32 Go on Trial Over Fatal Hotel Fire in Türkiye
Entire families perished when the huge blaze swept through the Grand Kartal Hotel in the northern mountain resort of Kartalkaya in the early hours of January 21.
Questions have multiplied about fire safety measures at the hotel and victims' families allege that negligence contributed to the high death toll.
More than 130 people were injured and the 12-storey building was destroyed.
Thirteen of the defendants -- including senior officials at the hotel, the fire department and the city council -- face up to 1,998 years in prison each on 78 charges, including "manslaughter with possible intent" to kill, AFP reported.
Survivors and experts have said the hotel's fire alarm system did not work.
According to the indictment, the suspects facing manslaughter charges include the hotel's owner, managers and members of the board, the deputy mayor of Bolu city and two fire department officials.
Before the hearing, victims' families gathered outside Bolu high school, where the trial is taking place, carrying portraits of the deceased.
They read out a statement, alleging countless breaches of safety and attempts to conceal evidence.
"During the fire, the owners, managers and employees of the Grand Kartal Hotel failed to alert guests or activate the alarm system.
"They rushed to save their cars while our loved ones were suffocating in the smoke," they alleged.
"An inspection report drawn up just one month before the fire clearly showed a lack of fire safety measures but the hotel owners ignored it on the grounds that the measures would be too costly," they continued.
"We know that the authorities turned a blind eye to this negligence, that evidence was concealed and that the camera recordings were deleted."
At the time of the fire, the tourism ministry and Bolu city council blamed each other for the disaster.
Due to the large number of defendants and plaintiffs -- 210 civil parties, the Bolu High Criminal Court is sitting at the high school's sports hall.
Ozgur Ozel, leader of the main opposition CHP, would attend the hearing, the social-democratic party said.
The trial is expected to last two weeks.
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