45 face life in jail over Istanbul airport attack

By Melike Gallenkus

ISTANBUL (AA) - Public prosecutors in Istanbul demanded aggravated life imprisonment for 45 suspects over alleged links to a deadly suicide bombing which killed dozens of people at the city's Ataturk Airport last June, a judicial source said Tuesday.

Forty-five people were killed and more than 200 injured at Istanbul’s Ataturk International Airport on June 28 when three suicide bombers, all foreign nationals, opened fire and blew themselves up at the international terminal.

The indictment prepared by Bakirkoy Chief Public Prosecutor’s office demanded 46 times aggravated life term for each of the suspects for plotted murder and attempting to overturn constitutional order, according to the source who spoke on condition of anonymity due to restrictions on talking to the media.

The 257-paged indictment also demanded prison terms of 2,132 to 3,342 years for the suspects on charges of being a member of an armed terrorist group, founding and running a terror organization, plotting attempted murder and damaging property.

Forty-one of the suspects are currently in custody, while arrest warrants have been issued against the remaining four.

The indictment is currently pending at Bakirkoy 2nd High Criminal Court.