Senior FETO suspect remanded over Russian envoy murder

Russian Ambassador to Turkey Andrey Karlov was assassinated at an art exhibit in Ankara in 2016 by a member of Fetullah Gulen Terror Organisation (FETO).

FETO suspect Sahin Sogut is pictured in this file photo.
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FETO suspect Sahin Sogut is pictured in this file photo.

A former civil servant and suspected senior member of the Fetullah Gulen Terror Organisation (FETO) was remanded in custody on Friday in connection with the assassination of Russia’s ambassador to Turkey in December 2016, according to a judicial source.

A court in Ankara remanded in custody Sahin Sogut, formerly employed by the Turkish Information and Communication Technologies Authority (ICTA), also identified as a senior FETO member and the superior of Mevlut Mert Altintas, the Russian envoy’s late assassin.

Sogut used his right to remain silent in the court, the source said on condition of anonymity due to restrictions on talking to media.

Sogut was arrested by security units in Ankara on Thursday as part of an investigation conducted by Ankara’s Public Prosecutor Adem Akinci.

The suspect is also believed to be responsible for deleting Altintas's E-mails and for conveying the terror group's instructions to him and organising the assassination, the source added.

Andrey Karlov was assassinated at an Ankara art gallery on December 19, 2016, by Altintas, an off-duty police officer linked to the FETO terrorist group who was shot dead by police that day.

US-based leader of FETO, Fetullah Gulen, orchestrated the defeated coup on July 15, 2016, which left 250 people dead and nearly 2,200 injured.  

Ankara accuses FETO of being behind a long-running campaign to overthrow the state through the infiltration of Turkish institutions, particularly the military, police, and judiciary.

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