 defendants who stood trial for their alleged involvement in a deadly attack at an İstanbul airport in 2016.){kind=link}
In a development that drew an angry reaction in various circles of society, Turkey’s highest appeals court has overturned the sentences of six Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) defendants who stood trial for their alleged involvement in a deadly attack at an İstanbul airport in 2016.
According to a special report from Alican Uludağ of the Now TV station, the six defendants were released from prison on December 12 based on a recent ruling from the Supreme Court of Appeals.
The suspects were among seven people arrested and tried as parties to the suicide bombings and shootings at the now-closed Atatürk Airport in İstanbul on June 28, 2016, which claimed the lives of 45 people and injured 236 others.
Three attackers were also killed in the incident.
Turkish officials said at the time that the attackers, believed to have come from Russia and Central Asia, were acting on behalf of ISIL and had come to Turkey from ISIL-controlled Syria.
Six defendants were each handed down 46 aggravated life sentences for “violating the constitution” and “premeditated murder” at the conclusion of their trial at the İstanbul 13th High Criminal Court in 2018, while one defendant was sentenced to 12 years on charges of “membership in a terrorist organization.”
The defendants appealed their convictions at the Supreme Court of Appeals. The 3rd Chamber of the court recently overturned the convictions of the six defendants with the heavier sentence on the grounds that it was unfair, excessive and lacked sufficient justification, which allowed for their release from prison.
The defendants are expected to be retried by a lower court following the appeals court’s decision.
The news of the release of six ISIL suspects, who were allegedly involved in one of the deadliest terrorist attacks in Turkey’s recent history, has sparked widespread outrage. Opposition parties have described the development as a “judicial scandal.”
They further accused the Turkish judiciary of being too lenient on suspected ISIL members while being overly harsh on individuals facing politically motivated charges.
Main opposition Republican People’s Party deputy group chairman Murat Emir said the news of the release of the ISIL members was “shocking.”
“If this is true, it is a complete legal scandal,” he said.
The presidential anti-disinformation office denied the report in a statement on X on Wednesday, accusing the media of distorting the development about the release of the six defendants.
Bazı basın yayın organlarında yer alan, "Atatürk Havalimanı'nda 45 kişinin katledildiği davada terör örgütü DAEŞ üyeleri tahliye edildi." haberinin çarpıtmalara sebebiyet verdiği tespit edilmiştir.
Söz konusu haberler kamuoyunda, "terör saldırısının failleri serbest bırakılmış"… pic.twitter.com/fF3BnVzAIp
— Dezenformasyonla Mücadele Merkezi (@dmmiletisim) December 18, 2024
The anti-disinformation office said the report in question creates the public perception that “the perpetrators of the terrorist attack have been released” and that the six defendants who were released had been in prison for eight years and were not the perpetrators of the attack.
The released defendants were on trial for crimes including membership in a terrorist organization and the financing of a terrorist organization. Since the time they had already spent in prison was deemed sufficient to cover the sentences they would receive for those charges, their release was granted, the office said.
However, Uludağ defended his report, accusing the anti-disinformation office of misleading the public with inaccurate information. The journalist shared a screenshot on X of a news report from the state-run Anadolu news agency at the time, which showed that five of the six released defendants had been tried for their direct involvement in the attack and received a total of 46 aggravated life sentences for the death of 45 people and violation of the constitution.
Haberim sonuna kadar doğru. Dezenformasyonla Mücadele Merkezi maalesef halkı yanıltıyor. Açık açık yalan bilgi veriyor. Tahliye edilen sanıkların 5'i doğrudan katliama ortak olmaktan yargılandı ve 45 kişinin ölümünden ve Anayasayı ihlalden 46'şar kez ağırlaştırılmış müebbet aldı.… https://t.co/qJA2oEBAJ4 pic.twitter.com/WRMVUpesoY
— Alican Uludağ (@alicanuludag) December 18, 2024
“Here is the news from the state agency at the time,” Uludağ said. “These five individuals were not punished for membership in a terrorist organization.”
He added that the names and sentences of the five defendants are clearly documented in Anadolu’s report.