Turkish gunman not to serve in prison over 2016 attack against journalist Can Dündar

Duvar English

A Turkish court on July 8 sentenced a man to three years and 15 days in prison over an attack targeting journalist Can Dündar in 2016.

The court also imposed a fine of 500 Turkish Liras on the suspect, daily Sözcü reported.

The Istanbul 28 Criminal Court of First Instance, in a retrial of the case, however reduced the jail term to two years, three months and 15 days on the grounds of “good behavior” of the suspect and also deferred the sentence, meaning the gunman Murat Şahin will not go to prison if he is not convicted of a crime for the next five years.

Dündar commented on the court's ruling on his Twiter account, saying: “There are so good judges, right? The man who fired at me has been sentenced to three years in jail and a fine of 500 liras over threat with a gun, willful injury and possession of unregistered firearm.”

“The softhearted judge also applied good conduct abatement and deferred the sentence. The man is already free. Announced to the assassins,” he further said.

On May 6, 2016, the gunman Şahin shouting "traitor" opened fire at Dündar outside Istanbul's Çağlayan Courthouse, as the journalist was attending a hearing on charges of revealing state secrets. 

Dündar escaped the attack unharmed, but Yağız Şenkal, a journalist working for private NTV television, was injured in the leg.

On the same day, Dündar was found guilty of revealing state secrets and sentenced to five years and 10 months in prison. After the incident, the well-known journalist fled to Germany where he has been living since.

In the first trial of the case in 2018, Şahin was initially given a fine of 4,500 liras for “willful injury” and sentenced to 10 months in jail for “possession of unregistered gun.” Upon Şenkal's appeal to the initial ruling, the verdict was overturned and a retrial process was launched.