The second Ankara court for especially grave crimes, which is considering the case of the assassination of Russian ambassador to Turkey Andrei Karlov, sentenced five defendants to life imprisonment, three of whom were found guilty directly of murder, a Sputnik correspondent reported from the courtroom
ANKARA (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 09th March, 2021) The second Ankara court for especially grave crimes, which is considering the case of the assassination of Russian ambassador to Turkey Andrei Karlov, sentenced five defendants to life imprisonment, three of whom were found guilty directly of murder, a Sputnik correspondent reported from the courtroom.
Earlier at the court session, those 19 accused addressed the court with their last pleas, all of them refused to admit their guilt and demanded an acquittal.
Former employees of the Office for Information Technology and Communications of Turkey Sahin Sogut, who, according to the investigation, was the curator of the Russian diplomat's killer, and Huseyin Kotuce, former Turkish police officers Salih Yillmaz and Ahmet Kilicaslan, and the former head of the Turkish National Intelligence Organization's (MIТ) department for work with Russia, Vehbi Kursad Akalin, were sentenced to life in prison.
Nine of the accused were sentenced to imprisonment from 5 to 15 years, five were acquitted. The cases of 9 accused, who are at large, including opposition cleric Fethullah Gulen, were filed into separate proceedings at the request of the prosecutor's office.
Karlov was shot dead on December 19, 2016 at the opening of the photo exhibition "Russia from Kaliningrad to Kamchatka through the eyes of a traveler" in Ankara. According to Turkish authorities, the attack was carried out by police officer Mevlut Mert Altintas, who was eliminated by security forces. The charges were brought against 28 suspects, including Gulen, who denies the charges. The indictment notes that Karlov's assassination was a provocation aimed at damaging Turkish-Russian relations.
The trial in the case of the murder of the Russian ambassador began on January 8, 2019.
