The case in the Stockholm district court is the first in Sweden where a person has been prosecuted for attempted terrorist financing by the PKK in particular. In the past, it has mainly concerned the terrorist group IS.
The accused man, who is in his 40s, is a Turkish citizen and in January uttered threats and fired shots outside a restaurant in Stockholm, according to the indictment. He was arrested three weeks later in a police raid with, among other things, stun grenades.
Prosecutor Hans Ihrman believes he has evidence of the man’s connection to the PKK and that the money he tried to collect would go there.
The man is also charged with attempted aggravated extortion and aggravated weapons offences.
– I believe that he should be sentenced to a five-year prison sentence if it is the case that the district court finds him liable in accordance with the indictment, Hans Ihrman told TT after the hearing ended.
Ihrman also requested that the man be deported upon conviction.
Data from Germany and France
The investigation is based, among other things, on information from the German Federal Police (BKA) and the French Security Service (DGSI), as well as intelligence and transcripts obtained from the now suspect’s phone and social media.
Among other things, the man has been seen on secret surveillance images together with a high-ranking leader within the PKK on several occasions in December. According to the police, the man appears to act as a driver when they visit wholesalers and restaurants that are consistently run by Kurds.
The man himself has denied the parts of the indictment that deal with terrorist financing and extortion. He has admitted the weapons offence, but only of the normal degree.
“He has been at the scene, but did not try to extort, did not threaten and did not have a weapon with him,” said the man’s lawyer Ilhan Aydin earlier during the hearing.
Gun crime only
Nor has he in any way acted on behalf of the PKK, according to Aydin.
— My client has submitted to responsibility for weapons offenses of the normal degree. There, of course, he will be judged. The prosecutor believes that it should be classified as serious, we believe that it is not. That is what the district court must decide on, among other things, says Aydin to TT after the hearing has ended.
Prosecutor Hans Ihrman is satisfied with the hearing and takes note, among other things, that the witnesses and the plaintiff in court confirmed the information they provided early in the investigation.
“In any case, I give the witnesses and plaintiffs an enormous amount of credibility,” he says.
In connection with the process surrounding the Swedish NATO application, Turkey has demanded that Sweden act more harshly against PKK sympathizers. However, Ihrman has said that it is only a coincidence that this indictment was brought at this time.
— I understand that people draw conclusions when it coincides in terms of time. But I want to emphasize that if this had happened three years ago, we would have acted in exactly the same way, he has told TT earlier.
The defense requested that the man be set free after the hearing ended, but the court decided that he should remain in custody. The verdict will be announced on July 6.