Turkish police on Monday arrested a suspect accused of an armed attack on a pro-Kurdish People’s Democratic Party (HDP) office in Istanbul, BirGün newspaper reported, days after his release from custody.
Muhammed Eren Sütçü was first detained on Dec. 28 in connection to a knife attack on the HDP İstanbul district office in Bahçeliever, which left two people injured. He was released seven days later, BirGün said.
Sütçü’s arrest on Monday follows an appeal over his release by the prosecutor in the case, over which there is a gag order, according to the newspaper.
Sütçü is accused of entering the HDP office and threatening to kill everyone inside the building before wounding two people on site.
The attack was the second of its kind on a HDP building this year. In June, a gunman stormed the HDP’s office in western İzmir province, killing a female employee.
The Turkish government has led a years-long crackdown on the HDP, Turkey’s second largest opposition party in parliament. The party is accused of links to the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), an armed group that has been at war for Kurdish self-rule in Turkey for four decades. The HDP denies the charges.
Ahval