Soma Mine Explosion: Constitutional Court Rejects Request of Investigation Against Officials

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The Constitutional Court has rejected an application for an investigation against government officials regarding a 2014 mine explosion that claimed the lives of 301 mine workers.

While the court stated that other people who were responsible for the explosion could be tried in the case where the owners of the mine are on trial, it rejected the application on the grounds that legal remedies have not been exhausted.

The Soma mine case is currently at the Court of Cassation and is about to end.

Some of the relatives of the workers, Abdülkadir Yılmaz, Ahmet Akdağ, Elif Yılmaz, Gülşen Ejdar, Hacer Yılmaz, Katriye Yılmaz, Mefaret Akdağ, Nagihan Babacan, Nurcan Akdağ, Onur Yılmaz, and Yiğit Ahmet Akdağ, made an individual application to the court, alleging a violation of the right to life because of a decision of non-prosecution for some suspects.

They requested an investigation to be launched to determine whether the following officials were responsible for the explosion: Some politicians who were on active duty at the time of the explosion, inspectors from the Ministry of Energy and Natural Resources and the Ministry of Family, Labor and Social Services and the Ministry of Labor General Director of Labor Health and Safety.

'A criminal investigation should have been launched'

In its reasoned decision, the Constitutional Court stated that a criminal investigation should have been opened into the incident, citing the case of "Naziker Onbaşı and others."

It stated that coal mining is a dangerous activity as it involves risks in terms of the lives and physical integrity of people, especially the employees. As part of the state's responsibility for protecting lives, there is an obligation to take necessary measures to prevent deaths and injuries, it further stated.

The court concluded that an effective criminal investigation was necessary, considering that many people died in similar cases in the past, that the risk of sudden gas discharge was known, and that it was possible to take measures against this risk, according to expert reports.

However, the court stated that as the proceedings regarding the suits for damages that families filed at administrative courts and courts of law because of the lack of a criminal investigation have not been completed. Therefore, the legal remedies have not been exhausted, the court concluded.

'There is no obstacle to a lawsuit'

The top court stated that the criminal case against some defendants continues and therefore public cases could always be opened against other people who were responsible for the explosion.

There is no obstacle to a lawsuit against the people who were previously decided not to be prosecuted if they were found responsible, the court stated.

What happened?

The incident of occupational homicide happened on March 13, 2014. The trial began on April 13, 2015, and ended on July 11, 2018.

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 handed prison terms from 15 years to 22 years and 6 months.

Thirty-seven defendants, including Alp Gürkan, the owner of the company, 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 case is at the Court of Cassation. (AS/VK)