Court orders assailant’s arrest over armed attack on Dündar

The 1st Istanbul Criminal Court of Peace ordered the arrest of Murat Şahin on May 10 on charges of threatening with a gun.

It also imposed an overseas travel ban and a judicial control decision for one foreign suspect. 

Three of five suspects in the armed attack were released after providing testimony, while an additional three suspects were detained on May 10 in connection with the incident. The second trio was detained following an investigation of Şahin’s phone records.

Şahin approached Dündar as he was speaking to reporters during a break in a May 6 hearing, in which he was being tried on charges of revealing state secrets. He fired two shots at Dündar’s legs, saying, “You are a traitor.”
 
Şahin was later detained while Dündar was uninjured, though Yağız Şenkal, a reporter for private broadcaster NTV, was wounded in the leg.

Şahin claimed he carried out the act “independently” and “wanted to teach Dündar a lesson” as he “did not like him,” security sources said, after detaining the 40-year-old following the attack.

“If I wanted to kill him, I would [have], but I shot at his leg to scare him,” he reportedly said.