ANKARA – A Turkish court on Tuesday sentenced five people to life prison terms over the assassination of Russia’s ambassador to Turkey in 2016, the state-run Anadolu Agency reported.
An off-duty police officer, Mevlut Mert Altintas, fatally shot Russian Ambassador Andrei Karlov at a photo exhibition in Turkish capital Ankara on Dec.
19, 2016. Other officers later shot and killed the gunman at the scene. Turkish prosecutors concluded that a network led by U.S.-based Muslim cleric Fethullah Gulen was behind Karlov’s slaying and charged 28 people, including Gulen, over the killing.
Prosecutors said the attack was meant to derail warming ties between Turkey and Russia. The Ankara court sentenced three of the defendants to two separate life