Turkish scholar's murder suspect remains under house arrest in Ukraine

KIEV

Former military officer Nuri Gökhan Bozkır is still wanted as murder suspect of Necip Hablemitoğlu who was killed in 2002 in front of his house in Ankara.

A fugitive suspect in the murder of a Turkish scholar researching the FETÖ organization, defined by Turkish authorities as the terror group behind a 2016 coup attempt, will remain under house arrest, a Ukrainian court said on Jan. 22.

The Kiev Court of Appeals was evaluating the prosecutor's office’s objection against keeping Nuri Gökhan B. under house arrest.

After the prosecutor's office withdrew its objection, the case was dismissed and Gökhan B., who was arrested in December, was ordered to be kept under house arrest.

Turkey expects Ukraine to extradite Gökhan B., Turkey’s justice minister said Dec. 25.

Necip Hablemitoğlu, known for his research and books on FETÖ, was killed in 2002 in front of his house in Turkey’s capital Ankara, but the murder was never solved.

In 2015, prosecutors in Ankara launched an investigation into FETÖ’s involvement in unsolved murders in 2000-2013, including the killings of Behcet Oktay in 2009, the head of Ankara police’s special operations department, judge candidate Didem Yaylalı in 2013, and high court judge Mustafa Yücel Özbilgin in 2006.

Ankara accuses FETÖ of being behind a long-running campaign to infiltrate the Turkish institutions, particularly the military, police and judiciary.