Assassination of Russia’s Ambassador: 5 defendants given life sentence

* Source and news: Anadolu Agency (AA)

Click to read the article in Turkish

The court has handed down its ruling in the trial of 28 defendants over the deadly armed attack on Russia's Ambassador to Turkey Andrei Karlov in the capital city of Ankara on December 19, 2016.

While three defendants have been given a life sentence aggravated for two times, two defendants have been given an aggravated life sentence.

Hearing the last words of the defendants, Presiding Judge Hikmet Erdoğan pronounced the ruling at the hearing yesterday (March 9).

Defendant Şahin Söğüt, the "superior" of assassin Mevlüt Mert Altıntaş in the organization, defendant Salih Yılmaz, who reportedly conveyed the order to Altıntaş, and Ahmet Kılıçarslan have been sentenced to life sentence aggravated for two times on charges of "attempting to overthrow the Constitutional order" and "deliberate killing for purposes of terrorism."

Hüseyin Kötüce, the defendant who was reportedly a member of the FETÖ's* intelligence group, and Vehbi Kürşad Akalın, a former intelligence officer who leaked information about Karlov to the organization, have been sentenced to aggravated life imprisonment and 15 years in prison.

On the other side, the files of nine fugitive defendants, including Fethullah Gülen and Emrullah Uslu, have been separated.

What happened?

Andrei Karlov, Russia's Ambassador to Turkey in Ankara, was  shot to death while making a speech at the opening of an exhibition in Çankaya Municipality's Contemporary Arts Center on December 19, 2016. Having assassinated Karlov, Mevlüt Mert Altıntaş, an officer from the Ankara Riot Police Branch, was killed during the ensuing conflict with the police.

Minister of Interior Süleyman Soylu announced that the assassin was police officer Mevlüt Mert Altıntaş, who was born in Aydın in 1994. (AÖ/SD)

* FETÖ: Fethullahist Terrorist Organization, previously known as Gülen community in Turkey, which is held accountable for the failed military coup attempt in Turkey on July 15, 2016