Deadly ISIL bomb attack suspect threatens families of victims in hearing in Ankara

A suspect in a case into a deadly Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) twin suicide bomb attack case has threatened the families of victims during a hearing held in the capital Ankara. 

Metin Akaltın, one of the suspects in the Oct. 10, 2015 ISIL attack case, wagged his finger at the families as a gesture of threat in the third hearing of the case on May 3. 

The hearing into the attack, which claimed a total of 101 lives and wounded dozens of others, began at around 10 a.m. at the Ankara Fourth Heavy Penal Court with the testimonies of the complainants. 

As one of the complainants, Reyhan Urgancı, was speaking, Akaltın started threatening the families of the victims, prompting the complainants' lawyer İlke Işık to ask the threat to be registered in the hearing records. 

The threat was included in the reports upon Işık's request. 

In a hearing on May 2, Akaltın also threatened his wife Hatice Akaltın, who is also among the suspects of the case, and her lawyer Oğuz Akman. 

"Don't answer the questions," Akaltın told his wife, which resulted in Hatice Akaltın to remain silent in the face of the complainants' lawyer's questions. 

Akman, in return, told the court that he is considering to retreat from his duty if she continued to remain silent.

"We accepted defending her because we believed she was innocent. If she is not going to reply, I'm thinking of giving up my duty as a lawyer. She is very devoted to her children. Her children are under the risk of death. We ask precautions to be taken regarding that," he said. 

Court head Selfet Giray decided that Akaltın was under pressure and ordered the suspects to be escorted outside the courtroom. 

"You better not defend her;...