Hearing For Murder Of Russian Ambassador To Turkey Karlov Starts In Ankara

Nkara's Second Criminal Court for Serious Crimes started the first hearing on the case of the murder of Russian Ambassador to Turkey Andrey Karlov on Tuesday, a Sputnik correspondent reported from the courtroom

ANKARA (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 08th January, 2019) Ankara's Second Criminal Court for Serious Crimes started the first hearing on the case of the murder of Russian Ambassador to Turkey Andrey Karlov on Tuesday, a Sputnik correspondent reported from the courtroom.

The hearing takes place in a small hall at the Palace of Justice. Apart from several journalists and civilians, many police officers and lawyers are present at the hearing. The judge started from reading out the passport data of the defendants and asking them about their marital status and profession.

There are a total of 18 defendants, including a woman. Four of the defendants participate in the hearing by video link from prisons in different regions of Turkey, where they are kept in custody.

Karlov was shot by an off-duty Turkish police officer, Mevlut Mert Altintas, at the opening of an art gallery exhibition called "Russia from Kaliningrad to Kamchatka through the eyes of a traveler" in Ankara on December 19, 2016. The attacker was killed at the scene by the police.

There are total of 28 suspects in the case, including opposition Islamic cleric Fethullah Gulen. The indictment says that the assassination of the diplomat was organized by the Gulen movement, which Ankara refers to as the Fethullah Terrorist Organization (FETO) and accuses of masterminding the failed coup in July 2016. According to the document, Karlov's assassination was a provocation aimed at damaging Russia-Turkey relations.