Turkish citizen Alparslan Celik, who took the blame for the death of Russian pilot Oleg Peshkov, has been released after serving a prison sentence for illegal possession of weapons, his lawyer, Murat Ustyundag, told TASS on Thursday.
"Yes, Celik is released from prison," the lawyer said.
On November 24, 2015, the Turkish Air Force shot down a Russian Su-24 in Syria, Russian pilot Oleg Peshkov was killed.
On November 25, 2015, the media spread a video of Celik confessing to the murder of the Russian pilot. Supposedly, Celik was one of the commanders of the Turkish radical group Grey Wolves, which helped Syrian gangs in Latakia province. On March 30, 2016, Celik was arrested in the city of Izmir on charges of illegally carrying and possessing military weapons. After being taken into detention, he stated that he was not personally involved in the shooting of the Russian and did not give such an order, but took responsibility because he was the commander of the militant unit whose members had opened fire.
On November 25, 2015, Lieutenant Colonel Oleg Peshkov was posthumously awarded the honorary title of Hero of the Russian Federation by a decree of Russian President Vladimir Putin.
GSV "Russia - Islamic World"
Photo: Creative Commons
Based on materials from TASS