Life term sought for Istanbul Besiktas attacks suspects

By Murat Paksoy, Murat Kaya and Muhammed Enes Can

ISTANBUL (AA) - Turkish prosecutors sought life sentences for four out of ten suspects of a terror attack outside a football stadium in Istanbul last year that killed dozens of people, judicial sources said Friday.

A 114-page indictment was sent to an Istanbul court, said the source who requested to remain anonymous due to restriction on speaking to the media.

The Istanbul Public Prosecutors Can Tuncay and Mesut Erdinc Bayhan demanded aggravated life imprisonment for four suspects, all of whom are accused of destroying the unity and solidarity of the state.

An aggravated life sentence means tougher conditions, including restricting a prisoner’s leisure hours.

The indictment also called for up to 4,929 years for the same suspects for several other charges, including attempting and helping multiple murders.

The remaining six suspects are accused of being member of an armed terror group and the prosecutors sought up to 15 years for them.

Ten suspects were mentioned in the indictment, with seven of them jailed pending trial.

The twin attacks -- one by a bomb-laden car and the other a suicide bomb -- targeted riot police near Vodafone Park stadium in Istanbul’s Besiktas neighborhood after a Turkish football league match, killing 46 people and leaving 243 others injured in December last year.

The indictment listed 45 people as the “victims” and 263 others as “complainants”, as it said the attack was carried out by the outlawed PKK/KCK affiliated TAK terror group and ordered by the PKK/KCK high command.

The PKK, a listed terrorist organization to Turkey, EU and the US, has been running a decades-long armed conflict in Turkey’s southeastern part.