North Cyprus court jails 3, "one for life" for the murder of Turkish Cypriot businessman Halil Falyali

A court in north Cyprus on Wednesday sentenced three men who had been found guilty on 17 charges each in relation to the murder of Turkish Cypriot businessman Halil Falyali and his chauffeur Murat Demirtas in 2022 to prison.

The court in Kyrenia on Wednesday handed a life sentence to Omer Tunc for his part in the murder, while Veysel Sare was sentenced to 35 years behind bars, and Musa Cicek was handed a 20-year sentence.

There are now a total of seven people serving prison sentences for their parts in what was a premeditated assassination, with four people having been handed similarly long sentences in Turkey in January for their parts in the crime.

Then, Mustafa Soylemez, Abdurrahim Celik, Cengiz Sener and Ender Yildiz were all handed long prison sentences in Turkey for their parts in the murder.

Soylemez, who fired the fatal shots, was handed two life sentences for the premeditated murder of two people, while Celik, Sener and Yildiz were all sentenced to 25 years in prison for aiding and abetting the murder.

Falyali and Demirtas were killed in the early hours of February 8, 2022, when their car was ambushed by men armed with automatic rifles on the road between Kyrenia and Çatalköy, where he lived.

He was pronounced dead at the Near East University hospital in Lefkosia, with the autopsy revealing he had been struck by a total of 16 bullets. Demirtas had been struck by six.

Falyali’s wife and children were following his car in a second vehicle and were not harmed.