Two earthquakes measuring 7.7 and 7.6 on the Richter scale in the Pazarcık and Albistan districts of Kahramanmaraş caused unprecedented devastation in 11 Turkish provinces.
According to the latest data from the Disaster and Emergency Management Department, it was learned that 43,556 Turkish citizens lost their lives due to the disaster, and more than 100,000 were taken to hospitals with injuries.
198,000 buildings suffered minor or moderate damage.
Several contractors responsible for the damaged buildings were caught trying to escape abroad.
A report prepared by haber 7 and translated by “New Turk Post” revealed the type of penalties these contractors might face.
In this regard, the specialized lawyers confirmed that the contractors are facing the charge of “the crime of negligence”, and indicated that the contractors did not aim to cause the death of people.
Thus, this type of crime ranges in punishment from causing the death of another person, i.e. causing the death of another person through negligence.
He may take the judgment of the one who deliberately caused the death of a person or by not showing the care expected of him.
As a matter of fact, as a result of the earthquake in Izmir, the local courts passed a judgment of willful negligence.
In other words, it was assessed in the context of causing death and injury to persons and damage to their property due to failure to show adequate care and attention.
It is also possible to implement the sentence of premeditated murder, which is higher than the penalty of willful negligence.
What is the appropriate punishment for the crime of willful negligence?
The person is sentenced to imprisonment from two to 15 years.
If the matter is assessed as willful negligence, it is provided herein that the penalty may be increased by half over the upper limit.
If he evaluates the severity of the event, the penalty could be 22 years and 6 months in prison.
After the buildings they built were demolished by the earthquake, some contractors and people said the buildings were between 30 and 40 years old, stressing the ‘time out’ element in the press and social media.
In this context, Lawyer Sari stated that the court will consider the statute of limitations even if due diligence is not taken:
“Crimes that do not fall under the statute of limitations are limited in number. A person who built a building 30 years ago will be tried here if he does not show due care and attention.”