Court frees bakery owners sentenced for illegal column removal in quake-hit Kahramanmaraş

In a lengthy hearing, the Kahramanmaraş 4th Court for Serious Crimes delivered verdicts for 11 defendants tied to the collapse of the Ezgi Apartment, a symbol of the February 2023 earthquakes that claimed 35 lives. Bakery operators Sami Kervancıoğlu and Mustafa Pekel were each sentenced to eight years for cutting structural columns, but were released under judicial supervision. Prosecutors had requested a combined penalty of 876 years and six months for homicide and injury, but the court reduced the charge to causing multiple deaths and injuries through conscious negligence.

The court also sentenced building technical supervisor Mehmet Tekin to six years and eight months with a two-year professional ban, and municipal officials Fahri Yiğitoğlu, Sait Avşar, Ali Gemci, Mehmet Akif Canlı, and Veli Çiftaslan to four years, five months and ten days. Several defendants, including interior designer Ertan Danacı and former municipal architect Mehmet Dişçeken, were acquitted. Relatives of the victims gathered to protest the rulings, highlighting ongoing anger over alleged negligence in construction permits and unauthorized modifications.