Soma mine explosion: Court of Cassation reverses own verdict, reduces sentences

With the new ruling, none of the defendants will go back to prison for the 2014 coal mine explosion that killed 301 workers.

İstanbul

Soma mine explosion: Court of Cassation reverses own verdict, reduces sentences

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After three of its five members were replaced, the Court of Cassation 12th Chamber has overturned its own decision in the case of the 2014 mine explosion in Soma, Manisa, which claimed the lives of 301 coal mine workers and injured hundreds, daily Sözcü reported.

It has ruled that three company executives should be sentenced for "causing deaths and injuries by gross negligence" rather than for "causing deaths by probable intent" 301 times and "causing injury by probable intent" 261 times as it ruled in late September.

On January 8, two prosecutors at the Court of Cassation requested the change in the verdict. After their application, three judges in the chamber were replaced. The chamber reversed its verdict by 3 to 2 votes.

The court stated it wouldn't be possible to think that the executives and owners of the company would disregard the workers' lives as they "made big investments and created high employment."

CLICK - Constitutional Court: Workers' right to life violated in Soma mine explosion

The defendants will not go behind bars as they will also benefit from the criminal execution law enacted in April 2020 to reduce prison populations, according to the new ruling.

With the new decision, Can Gürkan, the general director of the Soma mining company, can be sentenced to at most 22 years in prison, excluding reductions, Murat Kemal, a plaintiff attorney, told Sözcü.

"This is a clear interference with the Court of Cassation. Members of the judiciary were replaced with three bureaucrats," he said. "The government tells employers that 'You can kill as many workers as you want. You will get away with monetary penalties'."

What happened?

On May 13, 2014, an explosion in the Soma coal mine in the western Manisa province caused an underground fire in the mine, which burned until May 15.

301 workers were killed and 162 were injured in what was the worst mine incident in the country's history. The trial began on April 13, 2015, and ended on July 11, 2018. There were 45 defendants and 162 injured workers as victim plaintiffs in the case.

Akhisar Heavy Penal Court sentenced Soma Coal Enterprises Inc. Board Chair Can Gürkan to 15 years in prison for "killing by negligence" and banned him from mining business for three years.

Soma Coal Enterprises Inc. General Director Ramazan Doğru, mining engineer and Deputy Operations Manager İsmail Adalı, Operations Manager Akın Çelik and mining engineer Ertan Arsoy were given jail terms from 15 years to 22 years and 6 months.

Thirty-seven defendants, including Alp Gürkan, the owner of the company and the father of Can Gürkan, were acquitted.

İzmir Regional Court of Justice 14th Penal Chamber upheld the prison sentences for the five defendants on April 19, 2019. Can Gürkan was released from prison on the same day.

The Court of Cassation 12th Penal Chamber reversed the decision on September 30, 2020. It stated that Can Gürkan targeted increased production without taking required safety measures and setting up a ventilation system despite knowing that there was a high risk of fire.

It stated that Gürkan, Doğru Çelik and Adalı should be sentenced for "causing deaths by probable intent" 301 times and "causing injury by probable intent" 261 times.

(TP/VK)