German federal prosecutors have arrested a suspected member of the banned Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) at Frankfurt airport.
The man has been held in Italy since mid-June on a European Arrest Warrant and was then transferred to Germany, the office in the city of Karlsruhe reported Monday. He is accused of being a member of a foreign terrorist organization.
According to the Federal Public Prosecution Service, the Turkish citizen was active full-time within the PKK from January 2014 to July 2015. The Public Prosecution Service described him as ‘a leader of the sector’.
He is said to have helped organize propaganda events and meetings in Germany, given instructions to subordinates and supervised their execution.
According to statements from Germany’s highest public prosecutor’s office, the man was arrested by federal police officers upon arrival at Frankfurt airport on Friday.
On Saturday he was brought before the investigating judge of the Federal Court of Justice, who issued the arrest warrant. He is now in pre-trial detention.
The Federal Public Prosecutor’s Office considers the PKK a foreign terrorist organization responsible for numerous attacks and bombings in Turkey.
The PKK has been banned in Germany since 1993.
