A court on the fourth day of the third hearing in a mass trial over a deadly hotel fire at Bolu’s Kartalkaya Ski Resort sentenced 11 people to aggravated life imprisonment.
The fire, which broke out at the Grand Kartal Hotel on Jan 21, killed 78 people and injured 133 others. The court’s decision came after final defense statements were delivered by the defendants. The panel of judges rejected requests to expand the scope of the investigation before announcing the verdict.
Kartalkaya hotel workers ‘couldn’t find extinguishers’ during fire
Of the 32 defendants on trial, 20 had been held in pretrial detention. The Bolu 1st Heavy Penal Court handed aggravated life sentences to 11 people, including the detained hotel owner Halit Ergül, as well as Emine Ergül, Elif Aras, Ceyda Hacıbekiroğlu, Zeki Yılmaz, Ahmet Demir, Emir Aras, and Sedat Gülener.
No sentence reductions were applied by the court.
Bolu hotel fire: delayed response, lack of oversight, flawed legal framework
(VK)
