A verdict has now been reached in the case of the deaths of two young children and their parents in Istanbul due to insect poisoning: the four accused have been sentenced to lengthy prison terms. The court’s decision does not yet have legal force.
In a trial over the death of a family of four from Hamburg who were poisoned by insecticides while on holiday in Turkey, the Istanbul Caglayan Court found four of the six defendants guilty and sentenced them to lengthy prison terms.
The hotel operator was sentenced to 13 years and four months in prison. The owner of a pest control company received an 18-year prison sentence, as did his son. The company employee was sentenced to twelve years and two months in prison. The judge cited “conscious manslaughter by negligence” as the reason.
The accused administrators were acquitted.
The defendants’ lawyers demanded an acquittal
The family’s lawyer, Yaşar Balci, called for punishment for premeditated murder. Balchi explained that the pest control company has been conducting similar operations for four years. Other people were poisoned and the child’s death is currently under investigation.
That is why he does not agree that the court qualifies this act as “conscious negligence” – although the punishment of 18 years in prison exceeds the minimum established by law.
However, the defendants’ lawyers demanded acquittal. The brother of the deceased father told the dpa news agency that he considers 18 years a “fair punishment.”
The grandmother of the dead children said that the sentence is too lenient: “Will these 18 years give me back my children? Can at least one give me back my Mohammed, my Masala? No. Therefore, I cannot accept this sentence.”
Immediately after the verdict was announced, the children’s grandfather spoke about the deserved punishment. He later expressed his disappointment: “For me, this is unjustified. I lost four children, I expected more. But you see, this is not what you want.”
The verdict is not final yet, and those convicted can still appeal it.
At first there was one Food poisoning suspect
The father, mother and two young children from Hamburg were taken to hospital while on holiday in Istanbul in mid-November last year with symptoms including vomiting and nausea and died. Authorities initially suspected food poisoning.
During the trial, the defendants expressed doubts as to whether the family had actually been poisoned by the pesticide. The hotel owner explained that nothing had happened at the hotel during previous operations. The head of a pest control company suggested in court that food poisoning was also a likely cause of death.
However, as the report later revealed, the cause of death was poisoning from an insecticide used at the hotel to control pests. The family was poisoned by phosphine gas. This is a gas that can be released from the pesticide aluminum phosphide. This was used in the hotel.
The pest control company did not have permission to use aluminum phosphide.
According to Benjamin Weber, ARD Studio Istanbul