ZCZC
BFF-39
TURKEY-SYRIA-CONFLICT-BOMBINGS
Turkish court hands down 53 life terms to 2013 bomber
ANKARA, May 13, 2019 (BSS/AFP) – A Turkish court handed multiple life
sentences Monday to a man convicted of a 2013 bombing that killed more than
50 people, which Turkey blames on Syria, local media reported.
Yusuf Nazik was convicted of helping to organise the May 2013 bombing in
Reyhanli in southern Turkey, one of the deadliest in the country’s history.
An Ankara court gave him 53 aggravated life sentences, one for each of his
victims plus one for “destroying the state’s unity and integrity”, DHA news
agency reported.
Aggravated sentences, which replaced the death penalty in Turkey, carry
harsher prison conditions.
Nazik, a Turkish citizen, was caught last September by Turkey’s
intelligence services in the Syrian city of Latakia, a stronghold of support
for Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.
Turkey, which has helped back the opposition against Assad, accused the
Syrian government of responsibility for the attack, which it has denied.
At the time of his capture, Anadolu shared a video of Nazik giving what it
described as a confession, in which he said he was behind the attack and that
it had been ordered by Damascus.
BSS/AFP/ARS/1705 hrs