The owner of a block of flats which collapsed, killing 96 people inside, who then attempted to flee to Cyprus to start a new life in the hours after the building’s collapse, was on Thursday sentenced to 865 years in prison for causing the deaths of the building’s inhabitants.

The building was located in the southeastern Turkish city of Adana, and collapsed on February 6, 2023, in the aftermath of the two devastating earthquakes which hit the region on that day.

However, Adana is located more than 180 kilometres away from the first earthquake’s epicentre and more than 210km away from the second earthquake’s epicentre, with only 11 apartment buildings in the city, which is home to over 1.8 million people, collapsing on February 6, 2023.

As such, an arrest warrant was put out for the building’s owner, Hasan Alpargun, but it was quickly determined that he had taken a flight from Adana to northern Cyprus’ Ercan (Tymbou) airport on the day of the earthquakes.

According to Turkey’s Anadolu Agency, Alpargun then tried to transfer $990,000, €890,000, and 500,000TL from a bank account in Turkey to a bank account in the north, before then attempting to buy an apartment in northern Nicosia.

However, the Turkish police quickly located him, and he surrendered himself to the Turkish Cypriot police shortly afterwards, before being returned to Adana and arrested on February 13, 2023.

He had initially been handed 62 concurrent life sentences – a total of 865 years in prison – for causing the death of more than one person with possible intent by Adana’s 12th high criminal court in September last year, but Adana’s provincial court of justice overturned the verdict and returned the case to the 12th high criminal court.

The 12th high criminal court held resolute, however, and handed down a sentence of 865 years in prison for a second time.

In his final statement before the sentence was handed down, Alpargun insisted that his building was “complete and flawless”, and added, “I demand my release and acquittal”.

A representative of the families of the 96 people who were killed had earlier demanded a sentence which would act as a deterrent and set an example to those who build and operate potentially unsafe buildings.

“Earthquakes continue to occur all over our country. We know that unless those responsible are punished, the same pain will occur again and again. We, who lost our families in the earthquake … want to be able to say that there are judges in Adana,” they told Turkey’s Anka news agency.