JINHA

MANİSA – Hearings have begun in the case of the workplace neglect in which 301 miners died in an explosion at the Soma mine in southwestern Turkey. The families of the slain workers protested outside the courthouse, demanding real justice.

The families of the 301 workers lost in the 2014 underground explosion and fire in the Soma Mine in Manisa province say that those responsible for the murders are not just the company officials, but the AKP politicians who were supposed to be overseeing safety conditions in the mine.

The families started today, the first day of hearings,with a march in the early morning, leaving carnations at the base of the memorial statue for their relatives.

Police say defendants will deliver testimony through a video system"for their own security," but the families of the victims are angry at being unable to look into the eyes of the 45 defendants, eight of whom are being tried under arrest.

"If the same considerations for the security of the defendants had been taken for our children, they would be alive today," said İsmail Çolak, who lost a child in the disaster. "We have no faith left in justice. We're waiting for a just trial."

Around a thousand police are on duty at the local culture center where the case is being held. They have set up a three-gate barricade system up to a kilometer away.

Security forces are permitting only first-degree relatives of the Soma victims into the courthouse as observers in the case. Initially, only one first-degree relative was being allowed in for each miner, but after arguments broke out at the barricades between police and miners' families and CHP politicians intervened, police agreed to let in all first-degree relatives. Other than these individuals, only members of the press, lawyers and Parliamentary representatives are being allowed to pass the final barricade, 200 meters from the building.

Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) opposition politicians, environmental and labor groups are in town for the hearings, which will continue for the next ten days.

The defendants, among them top brass in the Soma mining corporation, are being charged with, variously, "eventual intent to kill and wound" and "conscious negligence."The eight defendants being tried under arrest are facing the heaviest sentences, as their charges carry sentences of 20-25 years. They are corporation owner Can Gürkan; shift supervisors YazinKurnaz, HilmiKazık and İsmail Adalı; general manager RamazanDoğru; technical supervisor ErtanErsoy; operating manager Akın Çelik; and mining technician Mehmet Ali GünayÇelik. Other defendants are facing 2-15 year jail sentences.

(ht/fk/cm)