Turkish court jails four over pesticide deaths of German family

A Turkish court jailed four people for the pesticide deaths of a Turkish-German family at Istanbul’s Harbour Suites Old City hotel, handing 18-year sentences to pest-control owner Serkan Kışı and his son Zeki Kışı. Hotel owner Hakan Oğlak received 13 years and four months, and company employee Doğan Cağferoğlu was sentenced to 12 years and two months. Two other defendants were acquitted.

The case began as a suspected food-poisoning episode after Çiğdem and Servet Böcek and their children, Kadir Muhammet, 6, and Masal, 3, fell ill on Nov. 12, 2025, shortly after arriving in Istanbul from Germany on Nov. 9. The family first went to a hospital by taxi with nausea and vomiting before returning to the hotel in Fatih, close to the Blue Mosque and Hagia Sophia. Kadir Muhammet and Masal died on Nov. 13, Çiğdem Böcek died on Nov. 14, and Servet Böcek died on Nov. 17 after days in intensive care.

Türkiye’s Forensic Medicine Institute concluded that pesticide poisoning caused the deaths and ruled out food poisoning. Phosphine gas, a toxic substance tied to pesticide use, was detected in hotel samples. The pest-control company, DSS, was found to have been operating without the required authorization.

Istanbul prosecutors opened the trial on April 21, 2026, after detaining 11 people in the early phase of the investigation, including hotel staff, pest-control workers and five food sellers. The hotel was sealed off, and two more guests were later taken to hospital with similar symptoms. Police collected samples from sheets, pillows, water bottles and blankets as investigators tested whether the deaths came from the hotel rather than the street food the family had eaten before falling ill.

Prosecutors had sought prison terms ranging from two years and eight months to 22 years and six months. President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said security forces and prosecutors would determine the causes of the deaths.