Ankara massacre indictment accepted despite all shortcomings and objections
The indictment of the suicide bomb attack on 10 October 2015 at Ankara Train Station, where 101 people lost their lives, has been accepted 15 days after its release. The President of the October 10 - Peace and Solidarity Foundation, Mehtap Sakinci Coşkun, stated that the indictment is full of shortcomings and said, “Justice will not have been served after the trials, either. After going through all national legal processes, we will carry this on to European Court of Human Rights.”
HÜSEYİN ŞİMŞEK huseyinsimsek@birgun.net
The indictment on the two separate suicide bomb attacks that were carried out by ISIL right before the start of the Peace and Solidarity Meeting in Ankara on October 10th last year was prepared 9 months after the attack and has recently been accepted despite all the shortcomings and objections.
Trials, which would follow after this acceptance of the indictment by the Ankara 4th High Criminal Court, are expected to start in October this year. Stating that the trials will be ‘serial trials’, the chief judge also indicated that the trial dates will be announced, at the earliest, in October, which would be the anniversary of the massacre, since there were no other available dates in the month of September.
‘A just result would not come up’
Pointing out that the indictment has been accepted despite all of its shortcomings and all objections against it, Lawyer and the President of the October 10 – Peace and Solidarity Foundation Mehtap Sakinci Coşgun argued that this would naturally cause the trials to result in a feeling of ‘injustice.’ Coşgun added, “We cannot accept trials that would be proceeded based on an indictment of this sort. They waited for 15 days; then, they accepted it. Names of some of the wounded people are not even included in the indictment. It is also inadequate with regards to the suspects. A few people being sentenced to life imprisonment is not really going to do much for serving justice.”
Also reminding that sound evidence related to the plot of the attack is not included in the indictment, either, Coşkun said, “We had stated our requests for the disapproval of this indictment. Plot of the attack and the perpetrators are not included in the indictment. It has been written down in such a facile way. We are faced with an indictment that has deeply devastated the wounded and the family and friends of the deceased once more.”
‘National legal processes are being exhausted as much as possible’
Coşgun drew attention to the only positive thing at this point, which is the possibility of accessing the files and having the chance to examine it closely since the indictment is now accepted. Seeing this as an advantage in terms of gaining time, Coşgun said, “Our only consolation is that we now have time to exhaust all national legal processes. There is at least an indictment, though prepared in 9 months. And, the trials will start. We have the necessary steps to litigate at international courts. After the decision of the court here, we will appeal to the European Court of Human Rights.”