site.btaTurkish Police Detains Wife of Russian Envoy's Assassin

Turkish police have detained another suspect in connection with the murder of Russian ambassador in Ankara Andrei Karlov in 2016, Turkish media reported. The Hurriyet newspaper said that the wife of policeman Mevlut Mert Altintas, who carried out the killing and was then shot dead by security forces, has been detained.

According to police sources, the woman was a member of the FETO organization (Fethullahist Terrorist Organization), considered a terrorist organization in Turkiye. According to Turkish authorities, FETO was behind the coup attempt in Turkiye in July 2016.

Altintas's wife has been detained in Istanbul. So far, there are no further details about the detention.

Karlov was killed on December 19, 2016, during an opening of a photo exhibition in Ankara.

The verdicts in Karlov's murder case were announced on March 9, 2021. Five people were sentenced to life imprisonment, eight were sentenced to 5 to 15 years in prison, while six other defendants were acquitted.

Meanwhile, the Russian Embassy in Ankara told TASS news agency that it has not yet received information from Turkish authorities about the detention of a new suspect in the case of Karlov's murder.