A Turkish court on Friday sentenced a contractor to 62 life terms in prison for negligence in the construction of a building that collapsed in a devastating earthquake that hit southeastern Turkey in 2023.
The contractor Hasan Alpargun, who is already in prison, was sentenced to 865 years for “causing death and injury with possible intent,” the state-run Anadolu news agency reported.
Another 34 defendants were each sentenced to 25 years in prison, said Besir Ekinci, the lawyer of the victims’ families, the agency reports.
They are charged with non-compliance with construction standards in a dangerous area.
A total of 96 people died after their apartment block, built by Alpargun, collapsed in the southeastern province of Adana in February last year.
Two earthquakes on February 6th, 2023 killed more than 60,000 people in Turkey and neighboring Syria.
Some contractors have since been detained, but opposition parties are calling out the government for failing to hold the government officials involved accountable.
