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| Turkish prosecutor taken hostage freed after police kill two leftist militants | |
| (about 5 hours later) | |
| Istanbul’s police chief said two members of a banned leftist group who had held a prosecutor hostage in his office in Istanbul have been killed in a shootout with police. | |
| Selami Altunok said on Tuesday that the prosecutor, Mehmet Selim Kiraz, had been seriously wounded and was taken to hospital after security forces stormed the courthouse where the far-left group had taken him hostage. | |
| Altunok said police had negotiated with the gunmen for six hours before the violent end of the hostage situation. | |
| The prosecutor had been investigating the politically sensitive death of an anti-government protester. The militants threatened to kill him if their demands were not met. | |
| Kiraz was investigating the killing of Berkin Elvan, who died in March last year after spending 269 days in a coma due to injuries inflicted by police in the mass protests of early summer 2013. | Kiraz was investigating the killing of Berkin Elvan, who died in March last year after spending 269 days in a coma due to injuries inflicted by police in the mass protests of early summer 2013. |
| In a statement published by Turkish media, the hostage-taking was claimed by the radical Marxist Revolutionary People’s Liberation party/Front (DKKP/C), which has been behind a string of attacks over recent years. | In a statement published by Turkish media, the hostage-taking was claimed by the radical Marxist Revolutionary People’s Liberation party/Front (DKKP/C), which has been behind a string of attacks over recent years. |
| Related: Berkin Elvan funeral protests in Turkey – in pictures | Related: Berkin Elvan funeral protests in Turkey – in pictures |
| The group published pictures showing one of the militants – his face concealed by a scarf with the group’s red and yellow insignia – holding a gun to Kiraz’s head. They had also plastered their flags and posters on the walls of his office. | The group published pictures showing one of the militants – his face concealed by a scarf with the group’s red and yellow insignia – holding a gun to Kiraz’s head. They had also plastered their flags and posters on the walls of his office. |
| Turkish media said the group had given a deadline of 3.36pm for the prosecutor to identify the police officers who they said were behind the killing of Elvan or he would be shot. Their demands also include a “live confession” by the officers responsible. | |
| The group also demanded that the policemen be tried by “peoples’ courts” and for court officials to drop prosecutions or investigations against people who took part in protests denouncing the boy’s death. | |
| Elvan succumbed to injuries sustained when he was hit by a tear-gas canister fired by police in the mass protests of early summer 2013 against the government of President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, who was then prime minister. | Elvan succumbed to injuries sustained when he was hit by a tear-gas canister fired by police in the mass protests of early summer 2013 against the government of President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, who was then prime minister. |
| Elvan was aged 15 at the time of his death, which was followed by mass nationwide protests that were also largely put down by the police. | Elvan was aged 15 at the time of his death, which was followed by mass nationwide protests that were also largely put down by the police. |
| Elvan has since become an icon for the Turkish far left and his supporters accuse the authorities of covering up the circumstances and perpetrators of his death. | Elvan has since become an icon for the Turkish far left and his supporters accuse the authorities of covering up the circumstances and perpetrators of his death. |