A Turkish court has sentenced a man to life in prison for carrying out a gun attack on an Istanbul nightclub that left 39 people dead.<\/p>\n
Abdulkadir Masharipov, a citizen of Uzbekistan, was handed the equivalent of 40 life sentences on Monday.<\/p>\n
It follows a three-year trial over the shooting, which happened at the exclusive Reina nightclub just minutes into New Year’s Day in 2017.<\/p>\n
The Islamic State group (IS) said it was responsible for the attack.<\/p>\n
Masharipov was sentenced for “deliberate murder” and “violating the constitution”, Turkey’s Anadolu news agency said. He will not be eligible for parole.<\/p>\n
He also received an additional 1,368-year sentence for the attempted murder of 79 people who were injured in the attack and for carrying a weapon without a licence.<\/p>\n
Another man, Ilyas Mamasaripov, was sentenced to more than 1,400 years in prison for helping plan the shooting.<\/p>\n
Forty-eight defendants were sentenced to jail for being members of a terrorist organisation, local media reported, and 11 others were acquitted.<\/p>\n
At about 01:30 local time (22:30 GMT), as revellers marked the new year, a gunman opened fire at the Reina nightclub in the north of the city.<\/p>\n
Masharipov had arrived at the club by taxi, before rushing through the entrance with an automatic rifle he had taken from the boot of the car.<\/p>\n
Surveillance footage showed bullets ricocheting off parked cars as he opened fire and entered the club.<\/p>\n
Masharipov fired randomly and threw stun grenades to allow himself to reload. He shot injured people on the ground before fleeing the scene.<\/p>\n
Citizens of Israel, France, Tunisia, Lebanon, India, Belgium, Jordan and Saudi Arabia were among the victims, and dozens of people were injured.<\/p>\n
The Uzbek national was eventually detained on 17 January 2017<\/a>\u00a0after a lengthy manhunt.<\/p>\n Police in Turkey have carried out numerous raids against IS in recent times. In July, 27 people suspected of planning an attack in Istanbul were detained in the city.<\/p>\n And last week,\u00a0the government said the top IS commander in the country had been detained.<\/a><\/p>\n Source: bbc.co.uk<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"