Reyhanlı plotter receives multiple life terms

ANKARA

Yusuf Nazik, a key plotter of the 2013 attack in Reyhanlı district of Turkey’s southern Hatay province, was handed down 53 aggravated life terms by a court on May 13.

The Ankara 9th Heavy Penal Court sentenced him for murder and harming state unity.

He was also sentenced to 5,306 years in prison for crimes including attempted murder of 130 people, harming property and being a member of armed terrorist group THKP/C.

Nazik, 34, has confessed to playing a role in the deadly bombing in the town of Reyhanlı which killed 53 people.

Some 912 buildings, 891 workplaces and 148 vehicles were also heavily damaged in the attacl.

He was arrested by Turkish intelligence units in the Syrian port city of Latakia on Sept. 12 last year.

State-run Anadolu Agency reported at the time that Nazik had confessed to receiving orders from Syrian intelligence to plan the attack in Turkey and having arranged the transport of explosives.

Reyhanlı is home to thousands of Syrian refugees. Following a series of bombings in the region in 2013, Turkey tightened controls along its 900-km border with Syria.