A Turkish court on Wednesday sentenced Medeni Akbaş to 1,033 years in prison for causing 61 deaths when a boat carrying illegal migrants sank in Lake Van two years ago.
The verdict was delivered during the 10th hearing at the Van High Criminal Court regarding the boat disaster. In the decision, one of the boat captains, Medeni Akbaş, who has been detained for two years, was charged with killing 60 illegal immigrants. He was sentenced to a total of 1,033 years in prison, including eight sentences of 16 years for the "murder with possible intent" of 60 people, 25 years for the death of one child and eight years for migrant smuggling. The 10 defendants who were tried pending trial were acquitted. The case against the other captain, Servet Akbaş, who was on the boat at the time of the incident but could not be reached during the searches, has been separated. Making his defense at the hearing, Akbaş demanded his release, claiming that he was innocent.
On June 27, 2020, a boat carrying illegal immigrants went missing in the Altınsaç district of Gevaş around 10 p.m. Following this, a missing persons report was filed for cousins Servet and Medeni Akbaş, who sailed the boat to the lake. Medeni Akbaş, who escaped by swimming from the capsized boat, was found near the Çitören district of Tusba at around 11 p.m. on June 28 and was taken to the gendarmerie. In line with the information provided by Medeni Akbaş, one of the boat captains, a search operation was started in the area where the boat sank with Servet Akbaş and the illegal immigrants. The location of the boat, which sank, was determined 11 days after the incident at a distance of 1 kilometer (less than a mile) from Çarpanak Island and at a depth of 107 meters (351 feet) in the lake. With the work of the teams, the bodies of 61 illegal immigrants were found. According to Akbaş, the boat sank due to adverse weather conditions.
