108 years in prison sought for Nazi-inspired knife attacker
ESKISEHIR
A prosecutor has sought a 108-year prison sentence for a suspect involved in a Nazi-inspired stabbing incident, facing charges of "attempted murder" and "threatening to instill fear and panic among the public.
18-year-old Arda Küçükyetim dressed in an assault vest, helmet and mask and went on a violent rampage in the western province of Eskişehir on Aug. 12 last year, injuring five people with a knife and axe. He carried the attacks in various locations, including a tea house in the garden of a mosque, a nearby park and a tram stop.
Küçükyetim, who broadcast the attack live using a camera attached to himself, was arrested shortly after the incident.
He said in his statement that he was instructed to carry out the attack by a stranger he met on a gaming platform, who claimed that he was of Eastern European descent and a year or two younger than Küçükyetim, about six to seven months prior to the attack.
Noting that they bonded over in time, talking about guns, bombs and armed attacks, he said that he shared a draft of potential locations for his planned attack with the person.
After discussing the matter with the individual, he decided upon carrying out the attack at a mosque in the Tepebaşı district at the end, noting that he adorned the assault vest he bought online with Nazi symbols that aligned with his political ideology of Nazism, formally named National Socialism.
The indictment, on the other hand, claims that cybercrime teams were unable to identify the individual Küçükyetim communicated before the attack and the platform they contacted on.
Referring to his motive, Küçükyetim noted that his actions were motivated only by his dislike of people and the desire to create a stir, not by any religious convictions.
Claiming he had no contact with any terrorist organization and regretted the attack, Küçükyetim stated that he had sought help from a hospital's psychiatric service about seven months prior to the incident in an effort to overcome depression, but had stopped taking his medication afterward.
