Five sentenced to life for Russian envoy’s murder
Russia says convictions over 2016 killing of Andrei Karlov ‘satisfactory’
A TURKISH court on Tuesday sentenced five suspects to life in prison over the 2016 murder of Russian ambassador Andrei Karlov in Ankara, state news agency Anadolu reported
The Russian foreign ministry said it received news of the convictions with “satisfaction”.
The suspects were accused of links to the 22-year-old gunman, Mevlüt Mert Altıntaş, who was killed by Turkish special forces shortly after he assassinated Karlov at a photo exhibition in Ankara.
According to broadcaster NTV, six other suspects were acquitted while seven were convicted of membership of an armed terrorist group. Turkey blamed the Fetö terror group, led by Fethullah Gülen a US-based Islamic preacher, for the murder.
Former intelligence agent Vehbi Kürşad Akalın was given an aggravated life sentence after he “leaked information on Karlov to the movement”.
An aggravated life sentence has tougher terms of detention and replaced the death penalty after it was abolished in 2004.
The suspect accused of giving the order to Mr Altıntaş to assassinate envoy Karlov, Salih Yılmaz, was given two aggravated life sentences.
Another suspect, Şahin Söğüt, was handed down the same convictions for acting as Altıntaş’ “mentor” within the Fetö group.
Gunman Altıntaş shouted “Allahu Akbar” (God is Great) and “Don’t forget Aleppo”, in reference to the Syrian city President Bashar al-Assad’s forces obliterated with Russian backing.
Mr Erdoğan at the time called Karlov’s murder a “provocation especially aimed at disrupting the normalisation process of TurkeyRussia relations”.
Ties between Ankara and Moscow were on the mend after Turkey shot down a Russian plane in November 2015. Russia imposed a series of sanctions on Turkey as a result.
Mr Erdoğan apologised in 2016 for the incident, and now he and his Russian counterpart enjoy a good relationship.
A total of 28 suspects were on trial including Mr Gülen after the case began in 2019. His case and that of eight other fugitives were separated from the main trial.