Two more detained over gun attack on journalist Can Dündar

ISTANBUL

A plain clothes police officer points his gun to the gunman who tried to attack Can Dündar, editor-in-chief of Turkish newspaper Cumhuriyet daily. AFP photo

Two more suspects were detained on May 7 over May 6's gun attack targeting Turkish journalist Can Dündar, who was on trial in Istanbul's Çağlayan courthouse on charges of revealing state secrets.        

According to the Istanbul Police Department, the suspects were reported to be associates of the gunman arrested at the scene, identified as Murat Şahin. Their arrest brings the number of detained suspects to three.        

The attack suspect approached Dündar as he was speaking to reporters during a break to the hearing. He fired two shots at Dündar’s legs, saying, “You are a traitor.” The assailant was detained while Dündar was uninjured.

However, Yağız Şenkal, a reporter for the private broadcaster NTV, was wounded in the leg.

Şahin, who calmly surrendered after the attack, is being questioned by the police.

Following the attack, Dündar, the editor-in-chief of daily Cumhuriyet, and Erdem Gül, the paper's Ankara bureau chief, were convicted by an Istanbul court and sentenced to five years and 10 months and five years in prison, respectively.        

The journalists were on trial for “leaking state secrets” due to stories published about Turkish intelligence trucks bound for Syria with hidden weapons in early 2014. They were arrested on Nov. 26, 2015, and released on Feb. 26 following a Constitutional Court decision.

The 14th High Criminal Court acquitted Dündar and Gül of charges of attempting to overthrow the government, while ordering that the charges of “knowingly and willfully” helping a terrorist organization be separated from the trial.