In relation to the landslide incident where 9 workers lost their lives by being buried underground in a gold mine in the Iliç district of Erzincan, 5 of the 43 suspects, including 5 in custody, will stand trial tomorrow for causing death and injury by negligence as well as the crime of “negligently polluting the environment.” The tragedy occurred on February 13, 2024, in a gold mine in the Iliç district of Erzincan. The investigation into the mine disaster has been completed by the Iliç Republic Prosecutor’s Office.
The suspects will be tried tomorrow on charges of causing death and injury by negligence and negligently polluting the environment. The indictment, consisting of 69 pages accepted by the Erzincan 1st Heavy Penal Court, includes 5 detained suspects I.R.G, S.K.S, A.R.K, S.Ç, and Ö.A, along with 38 suspects who are not in custody.
The indictment requests that all the suspects be sentenced to imprisonment ranging from 2 to 15 years for causing death and injury by negligence. In addition, the Canadian executive I.R.G, along with C.Y.D. and K.Ö., who were managing the gold mine at the time, face charges of negligently polluting the environment, asking for a fine or imprisonment for a period of 2 months to 1 year if it leaves a lasting effect on soil, water, or air. According to expert reports, 43 suspects were found to be at fault, with 12 being directly responsible and 31 having indirect fault.
Research and analysis records prepared by law enforcement authorities reveal that a change in color began in the upper left part of the area considered the Iliç region on February 11 and intensified significantly towards the lower parts on February 13. The indictment states that the incident was classified as an industrial accident according to regulations and there was no element of inevitability involved. It was determined that the project management mechanism was not properly established, resulting in errors in the project design, inadequate monitoring of the project design criteria during operation, insufficient warning systems, and a lack of an effective system to manage incidents after cracks signaled warnings. Failure to fulfill obligations under the Mining and Environment Law led to an increase in capacity in a more unfavorable topography after the construction of Phases 1, 2, 3. The expert report mentioned in the indictment concluded that environmental pollution occurred due to exceeding the threshold values in some parameters specified in relevant regulations. Adnan Keklik, Kenan Öz, Ramazan Çimen, Uğur Yıldız, Abdurrahman Şahin, Fahrettin Keklik, Mehmet Kazar, Şaban Yılmaz, and Hüseyin Kara lost their lives in the mine area, while İsa Taşdelen and İshak Demir were injured.