Two more people were detained Saturday in connection with the attempted shooting of a Turkish opposition journalist outside an Istanbul courthouse where he was standing trial, the Dogan news agency reported Saturday.
Brandishing a pistol, an attacker fired several times Friday at Can Dundar, editor-in-chief of leading opposition daily Cumhuriyet before being detained by police.
Dundar was unhurt in the attack, although another journalist covering the trial was lightly injured.
“You are (a) traitor. You will pay a price,” the attacker, identified by Turkish media as 40-year-old Murat Sahin, reportedly shouted.
CNN-Turk reported him as saying he had wanted to teach Dundar “a lesson” and that he had acted alone. “I did not want to kill him, but I could have done it,” he was quoted as saying.
Plainclothes police drew their weapons and ordered the man to lie chest down on the ground before detaining him.
“Two other people were detained today (Saturday) after the gun attack that targeted Can Dundar yesterday in front of the Istanbul courthouse,” Dogan said.
The attack occurred just before Dundar was sentenced to five years and 10 months on charges of revealing state secrets. Cumhuriyet’s Ankara bureau chief, Erdem Gul, was handed a five-year jail sentence.