The perpetrator of the armed attack on the regional office of the left-wing Turkish daily newspaper Evrensel in Izmir last week is in custody. A court in Izmir ordered the detention of Isa Can B. on charges of armed threat and illegal possession of weapons, the newspaper reported on Monday.
An information blackout had initially been imposed on the proceedings. According to Evrensel, the newspaper’s lawyers only learned of the court’s decision today.
According to police and court records, the perpetrator stated that he had no personal or political motives. “I did not act out of hostility toward the newspaper, nor did anyone incite me to do so,” he said. He claimed to have been drunk at the time of the crime.
He said he had acquired the weapon several months earlier from an unknown man. After the crime, he supposedly threw the gun away in a vacant lot and could not remember where he had hidden it. The suspect expressed remorse in court: “I am depressed about what I did and I regret it. But no one pressured me to do it.”
A companion of Biler, who claimed to have merely driven him to the Alsancak district and then picked him up from the scene of the crime, was released after a brief detention. The editorial staff of Evrensel described the attack as a serious threat to press freedom. No one was injured in the incident.
Source: ANF News
