Police capture key FETÖ suspect in Russian envoy assassination

ISTANBUL

Istanbul police have caught a key suspect who played a role along with her husband, a key figure of the FETÖ terrorist organization, in the assassination of the Russian ambassador to Ankara in 2016.

The woman, only identified by initials A.S., was released under house arrest in an earlier investigation into the assassination, but was later sentenced to nine years in prison due to her role within the terror group before she disappeared.

It was also learned that A.S. was previously working in a company that was closed down for having links with FETÖ.

After security forces determined that A.S. was hiding in Istanbul’s Beylikdüzü district, the Istanbul police caught her in a raid on Aug. 13.

Her husband, identified only by initials Ş.S., was previously sentenced to two instances of lifetime imprisonment relaying to the “assassination order” of 22-year-old Turkish policeman Mevlüt Mert Altıntaş.

Altıntaş opened fire and killed Russian Ambassador Andrey Karlov during his speech at an art exhibition in the Turkish capital, Ankara, on Dec. 19, 2016.

Altıntaş was killed in a shootout with police. In a trial for the assassination, an Ankara court determined that Altıntaş was a member of a secret cell of FETÖ within the Turkish police.

According to the verdict, Altıntaş was chosen by FETÖ and “was secretly raised as a loyal member of the group,” and Ş.S. was in charge of the acts of Altıntaş on behalf of the terrorist organization.

The FETÖ and its U.S.-based leader, Fetullah Gülen, orchestrated the defeated coup of July 15, 2016, in which 251 people were killed and 2,734 wounded.