While the trial of the company owners regarding the Soma mine disaster that claimed the lives of 301 workers in May, 2014 has dragged on, the miners who survived the massacre have been charged with “deliberately damaging property” and for opposition to the law on organising marches and rallies.

The indictment of the prosecutor pointed to the march that the miners held for their colleagues who lost their lives in the disaster as the crime scene. The indictment said the miners had held a march on 17 June 2014 alleging that they had not received the bodies of those who died in the mine disaster, and blockaded a road in the town and prevented the passage of a car and damaged it.

The miners in Soma held a march on 17 May 2014 in protest at not being allowed to have the bodies of their colleagues. The indictment says the march was organised around one month later than the massacre, contradicting the facts.‏