The highly anticipated verdict fell on Thursday April 25 for the trial of the Çorlu train accident, in July 2018. During one of the deadliest in the country’s recent history, 25 people, including 7 children, lost life in this town in the Tekirdag region of northwest Turkey. More than 300 others were injured. The courts sentenced several of the accused to heavy prison terms, in a victory for the families, who however believe that justice has not yet been fully served.
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With our correspondent in Istanbul, Anne Andlauer
When the verdict was announced, the families cried and hugged each other. Cries of relief, after six years of proceedings and around twenty hearings at the Tekirdag courtin the west of the Türkiyein eastern Thrace.
Of the 13 accused, nine receive prison sentences, the length of which varies between 8 and 17 and a half years, including sentence reductions. The most severely punished are former regional directors and former maintenance directors within the Turkish Railways company. Four of them, convicted of “ homicide by conscious negligence », were incarcerated at the end of the hearing.
A first in Türkiye
This is the first time in Türkiye that senior public officials have been sentenced to such heavy sentences.
The victims and their lawyers say they are satisfied. For years, officials blamed bad weather for the fatal derailment. With this verdict, justice affirms on the contrary that it was mainly due to poor maintenance of the railway network.
For the families, however, this victory is only a first step: they continue to demand the opening of a trial against the directors of the railway company at the time, who have been completely spared until now.
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