Court imposes mere fine for defendants in death of two children at Menzil Cult-run farm

In the case involving the tragic deaths of two children, aged 2 and 3, at a farm owned by the government-linked Menzil Cult, the defendants were only penalized with a fine. One of the sect's representatives said, “A lawsuit was filed. We have made our payment. The incident has been closed.”

Tuesday June 20 2023 08:05 pm

Duvar English

In the case involving the tragic deaths of two children, aged 2 and 3, from a Syrian family working at a farm associated with the radical Islamist Menzil Cult in Konya province, the defendants received only a judicial fine. The incident occurred in December 2018 when the children were caught in a feed mixer attached to a tractor in the farm.

After the death of the children, a lawsuit was filed against the suspects at Konya Heavy Penal Court on the charge of "causing the death of two with negligence,” according to reporting of daily BirGün. In the report prepared on the incident, the experts stated that there was no protection around he place where the tractor was connected to the feed mixer and there were no warning signs in the vicinity.

The court has issued a collective sentence of 60,700 TL to the official owner of the farm, one of his associates, and the director of the provincial branch of the Semerkand Foundation, an organization linked to the cult. The fine given to the three people for was divided into 20 and 24 installments.

The father and the mother, did not file a complaint against the suspects, claiming that they were compensated for their material and moral damages.

The director from the Samarkand Foundation said, "There is nothing left about this issue. A lawsuit was filed. We have made our payment. The incident has been closed.”

During June 2023, Turkish authorities have also released the imam of an illegal madrassa in Şanlıurfa province after a 12-year-old child was found hanged at a barn near the Menzil’s so-called education facility.