MOSCOW, March 5. /TASS/: Russia hopes that those responsible for murdering Russian Ambassador to Turkey Andrei Karlov will be punished, Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters.
"We are keeping a close eye on this case and want to be sure that the masterminds behind the murder and the perpetrators will be found and punished in accordance with the law," he said.
The Kremlin spokesman declined to comment on demand by Turkish prosecutors that five suspects in Karlov’s murder case be acquitted. "We will not comment on the internal processes related to the judicial system, with state prosecution in Turkey, that’s none of our business. The most important thing for us is to make sure that those who killed our ambassador are punished," he stated.
When asked whether Russia’s special services are working on the issue, Peskov refrained from comments. "I cannot tell you that, I have no information," he said.
A TASS correspondent earlier reported from the courtroom that the Ankara prosecutor’s office had demanded that five suspects in the case be acquitted. The prosecutor also demanded life imprisonment for the eight defendants accused of complicity in the killing of the Russian ambassador.
Russia’s Ambassador to Turkey Andrei Karlov was gunned down on December 19, 2016, while delivering a speech at a photo exhibition. The attacker, an off-duty police officer named Mevlut Mert Altintas, was immediately killed by security forces. The Russian Foreign Ministry described the murder as a terrorist attack, while the Investigative Committee opened a criminal case, labeling Karlov’s assassination as an act of international terrorism. Andrei Karlov was posthumously awarded the title of Hero of Russia.
