Seven municipal officials indicted over deadly Kocaeli factory fire
Prosecutors have indicted seven municipal officials over a November cosmetics factory fire that killed seven workers, including three minors, in Dilovası district of the northwestern province of Kocaeli.
The Gebze Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office charged the officials with causing multiple deaths and injuries through conscious negligence as per article 22/ of the Turkish Penal Code.
The defendants include former Dilovası Municipality Zoning and Urban Planning Director Hüseyin Öztürk and building control directors Cihan Sorgucu, Selim San and Muammer Telli. Deputy Mayor Necati Temiz and acting municipal police directors Cengiz Taşdemir and Nizamettin Balcı were also charged.
If the indictment is accepted, each defendant will face between two years and eight months and 22 years and six months in prison.
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Prosecutors said the suspects had “failed to meet their duty of care” and alleged that their conduct contributed to the incident.
The suspects denied the accusations. The prosecutor’s office described their statements as attempts to avoid criminal liability and rejected their defenses.
The indictment followed reports by Interior Ministry inspectors and court-appointed experts. The inspectors first sent their report to the Dilovası district governor’s office, which authorized an investigation into the seven officials on Feb 19. The İstanbul Regional Administrative Court rejected their appeal on Apr 7.
What happened?
The fire broke out at the Ravive Cosmetics Factory on Nov 8. The killed workers were Tuğba Taşdemir, 17, Nisanur Taşdemir, 15, Cansu Esetoğlu, 15, Hanım Gülek, 52, Esma Gikan, 31, Şengül Yılmaz, 59, and Tuncay Yıldız, who later died in a hospital. Several other workers were injured.
The investigation found that the workers had been working informallye. The factory operated in an unauthorized, unlicensed building and lacked workplace safety measures.
The facility had received an operating license despite these deficiencies, while municipal authorities allegedly failed to conduct inspections or seal and demolish the unauthorized structure. Complaints submitted through the Presidential Communications Center (CİMER) were also allegedly disregarded.
Seven people, including the business owners, were remanded in custody after the fire. Several municipal and public officials were suspended.
A separate trial of 16 defendants, including the company’s owners, is continuing at the Gebze 7th Heavy Penal Court.
The status of investigations into suspended officials from the Social Security Institution, the Turkish Employment Agency and other public bodies remains unclear.
Families of the killed workers and their lawyers have held a justice vigil in Gebze’s main square during the investigation. Witnesses have also alleged that municipal police officers were occasionally seen leaving the factory with products.
(HA/VK)
