The 10 defendants in the case were given aggravated life sentences in the decision hearing held at the 4th High Criminal Court of Ankara on 1 July. The court handed down 101 consecutive aggravated life sentences on conviction of murder and 379 consecutive 18-year prison sentences on charges of attempted murder to each of the 10 defendants.
The 2015 Ankara railway station bombing was one of the deadliest terrorist attacks in Turkey’s history. The attack on 10 October, 2015, targeted people attending a protest in the Turkish capital to demand peace negotiations between the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) and the Turkish government, killing 104 and leaving more than 500 injured, 20 of whom were children.
The trial was initially concluded in August 2018 but a retrial was sparked when the Supreme Court of Appeals overturned several of the defendants’ sentences. Even though the convictions for murder and attempted murder were confirmed on 1 July, none of the defendants were convicted of committing crimes against humanity, despite pleas from the victim’s families and lawyers.
Relatives and lawyers of the victims also accused officials of having failed to put necessary measures in place to prevent the attacks, but applications by lawyers to consider issues relating to the liability of the state and state officials in the massacre were rejected by Ankara’s Regional Court of Justice in October 2020.