Prosecution seeks up to 1,050 years in prison for detained defendants in mining disaster case

The 10th hearing of the case, held by the Bartın High Criminal Court in a specially prepared hall at the Bartın Courthouse, was attended by detained and non-detained defendants, plaintiffs, relatives of those who lost their lives in the explosion, and lawyers for the parties. Extensive security measures were taken by law enforcement inside and around the courthouse.

In the prosecution's closing statement, it was stated that the detained defendant, Facility Manager Cihat Özdemir, was found negligent regarding factors that caused the incident, including "ventilation," "methane drainage," "coal dust control," "shortage of technical personnel," and "occupational safety training and emergency drills." The statement noted that detained defendants Selçuk Ekmekçi, the Operations Manager, and Mehmet Tural, the Chief Operations Engineer, were found negligent in terms of "ventilation," "coal dust control," and "occupational safety training and emergency drills," while Volkan Soylu, the Chief Engineer of Occupational Health, Safety and Training, who also serves as the Branch Manager of Occupational Health, Safety and Training, was found negligent regarding "ventilation" and "occupational safety training and emergency drills."

The statement recorded that defendants Özdemir, Ekmekçi, Tural, and Soylu acted in violation of their obligation to "design, construct, equip, and operate the workplace in a way that does not endanger the health and safety of employees" by failing to ensure occupational safety measures were taken, failing to implement the project related to improving ventilation, and allowing coal production using the "patara" method, which is not included in the regulations. The statement emphasized that the elements of the crime of "homicide with probable intent" had been established.

The statement, which also included information regarding the negligence and failures of the non-detained defendants, requested that the detained defendants Özdemir, Ekmekçi, Tural, and Soylu be sentenced to a total of 840 to 1,050 years each for 43 counts of "homicide with probable intent," and 4 years and 16 months to 12 years each for 4 counts of "causing injury with probable intent," based on an evaluation of party statements, expert reports, autopsy records, forensic medicine reports, inspection reports, and TÜBİTAK reports, as well as the entire scope of the file.

In the statement, it was requested that the other 19 non-detained defendants be sentenced to prison terms ranging from 2 years and 8 months to 22 years and 6 months each for the crime of "causing the death and injury of more than one person through conscious negligence."

News Source: İHA