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Paris PKK shooting: Chauffeur under formal inquiry | Paris PKK shooting: Chauffeur under formal inquiry |
(about 1 hour later) | |
An associate of three Kurdish women shot dead in Paris earlier this month has been placed under formal investigation for their murder. | An associate of three Kurdish women shot dead in Paris earlier this month has been placed under formal investigation for their murder. |
The 30-year-old man is described as a chauffeur to the Kurdish activists. One, Sakine Cansiz, was a founding member of the armed militant PKK. | The 30-year-old man is described as a chauffeur to the Kurdish activists. One, Sakine Cansiz, was a founding member of the armed militant PKK. |
The three were found shot in the head in a Kurdish community centre in Paris. | The three were found shot in the head in a Kurdish community centre in Paris. |
Turkey has implied they may have been the victim of an internal feud. Others suspect Turkish ultra-nationalists. | Turkey has implied they may have been the victim of an internal feud. Others suspect Turkish ultra-nationalists. |
The suspect, Omer Guney, was one of two ethnic Kurds arrested last week by a specialist anti-terrorist unit investigating the killings. The other has since been released. | |
Mr Guney is under investigation for carrying out the murders as part of a terrorist group, and conspiracy to commit murder as part of a terrorist group, the French news agency AFP reported. | |
"We believe he is likely to have been the killer or one of the killers," Paris prosecutor Francois Molins said. | |
It has emerged that Guney had been a member of the PKK for the past two years and was the last person to be seen with Cansız on the security cameras, Turkey's Hurriyet newspaper reported. | |
Gunshot residue was reportedly found on his clothes. | |
Mr Molins also said all three women were killed with one gun, adding that the reason for the murder had not yet been determined. | |
Extortion theory | |
Ms Cansiz, Fidan Dogan, and Leyla Saylemez were shot days after Turkey announced it was holding tentative peace talks with the PKK's jailed leader, Abdullah Ocalan. | |
The Turkish government suggested the attack could have been intended to derail the peace process. | The Turkish government suggested the attack could have been intended to derail the peace process. |
But French police are also examining whether the killings were linked to extortion rackets used to raise funds for the PKK from the large expatriate community in western Europe. | |
The PKK is regarded as a terrorist organisation by Turkey, the EU and the US. | The PKK is regarded as a terrorist organisation by Turkey, the EU and the US. |
It launched an armed campaign for Kurdish autonomy against the Turkish government in 1984, since when more than 40,000 people have been killed. |