The 11 defendants accused of “conscious negligence” while building Isias Hotel are on trial in the Turkey’s southern city of Adiyaman.
The owner of the hotel is among the five accused who have been detained and may spend more than 20 years in prison if found guilty.
Along with a number of parents and chaperones, 24 youngsters from Northern Cyprus who were in Turkey for a kids’ volleyball competition tragically died in the collapse of the hotel.
Turkish prosecutors now contend that if appropriate safety regulations had been followed, the disaster might have been avoided.
The building collapse claimed the lives of 72 individuals in all, 39 of them were from Northern Cyprus. This makes it the worst disaster in the history of the separatist statelet, which only Ankara recognises as having the right to self-rule.
According to the indictment, the property was unlawfully turned into a hotel in 2001 and had a floor added beyond the nine allowed by the original design.
Unal Ustel, the prime minister of Northern Cyprus, is one of the plaintiffs.
The Turkish authorities detained almost 200 individuals as soon as the initial 7.8-magnitude earthquake occurred.
