An indictment by the Istanbul Chief Public Prosecutor's Office claimed that a spy from Germany's national intelligence agency, the BND, is connected with death of an Istanbul prosecutor, who was taken hostage by members of a banned leftish group.
Prosecutor Mehmet Selim Kiraz died of his serious wounds in the hospital after being shot by two armed members of Turkey's far-left Revolutionary People's Liberation Party-Front, or DHKP-C, who held him hostage at an Istanbul courthouse on March 31.
The two captors were killed after security forces stormed in on the office where they held Kiraz as hostage.
The prosecutor was investigating the death of Berkin Elvan, a teenager who was hit by a police gas canister fired during anti-government protests in June 2013. The boy, 15, died after having spent 269 days in a coma at Okmeydanı hospital in Istanbul.
Stephen Shak Kaczynski, a British citizen spying for BND, is among 20 members the banned group, who could face up to 20 years in prison, according to the 41-page indictment. The prosecutor has demanded a 21-year prison term for suspects on charges of being members of a terrorist organization in the indictment, which was approved by Istanbul 14th High Criminal Court.
Kaczynski denied having relations with either the banned group or the intelligence service, when he was testified by the prosecutor after having been detained on April 5 in the İdil Cultural Center in Istanbul's working-class district of Okmeydanı. The 53-year-old man claimed he went to the İdil Cultural Center only for sleeping.
According to his testimony, Kaczynski, who works as an interpreter, arrived in Istanbul by plane on Feb. 6 for a touristical visit and a week after his trip to Lebanon, he traveled back to Turkey in late February for a symposium on cultural rights which was held in April. The Istanbul 4th Court of Peace has ordered the arrest of Kaczynski and four other co-defendants, who were detained in the same police raid. Kaczynski has been jailed due to the possibility of escape.
Kaczynski is claimed to have traveled to Turkey to convey an order to launch a terror activity in Istanbul by some dark circles in Europe during his last trip to Turkey. Police suggest that he has attended a meeting of the Marxist group before his trip to Istanbul.
The British national, who has traveled in and out of Turkey several times in the past, is blamed for the senior prosecutor's being held captive in his office by two members of the banned Turkish Marxist group, who threatened to kill him if their demands were not covered.
The British man and members of the banned group were seized in connection with the police raids which were launched during April, after a bomb attack which targeted the Istanbul police department on April 1. A woman, linked with the DHKP-C, hurled two hand grenades and opened fire on officers who were standing outside the police departments. According to the reports, the terrorist, identified as Elif Sultan Kasen, was killed in the retaliatory fire by the police which also left two officers injured.
The 42-page indictment from Turkish prosecutors also said the banned group has used cultural activities at İdil Culture Center as a tool to find new recruits among students, who arrived in Istanbul from remote areas in Anatolia.
The banned group has contact to potential recruits during the performance of Group Yorum, a left-wing band best known for political songs promoting the outlawed DHKP-C, which is held annually in Cumhuriyet market square in the city's Bakırköy district, according to revelations by an anonymous witness. “They talk about free courses, which teach how to play instruments and perform on the stage. They actually aim to brainwash young people under the guise of courses," he said.
The indictment also said that the outlawed organisation has looked for young recruits who especially live in Istanbul's slum areas.
