A group of activists rallied outside an Ankara courthouse yesterday, calling on authorities to deepen the probe into the killing of businessman Medet Ünlü. They claimed the real perpetrators of the 2013 murder were not found.
Medet Ünlü was killed in his office in the Turkish capital in 2013. Two suspects, both Turkish nationals, were captured last year in northwestern Turkey. Murat Aluç, one of the suspects, claimed he was paid by a Russian national for the murder.
In a statement to reporters, activists claimed the investigation into the murder had a number of shortcomings. They said Rizvan Ezbulatov, the Russian national who is alleged to have ordered the hit on Ünlü, was not included in the investigation and remains missing. "There is not even a photo of Ezbulatov in the prosecution file. Whereas, he served time in Turkish prisons in the 1990s for involvement in a string of crimes," activists said. They claim Ezbulatov is hiding in Ukraine while Ömer Peltek, another suspect captured together with Aluç, remains missing after he was released by a Turkish court.
Activists said no progress was made in the probe regarding the motive for the murder, despite it being two years since the murder, and called on the authorities to find "all of the culprits."
Ünlü, an ethnic Chechen born in Turkey, was honorary consul for the unrecognized Chechen Republic of Ichkeria in Turkey. Members of the dissident Chechen community in Turkey had protested against Russia over the killing, claiming Russia was behind it.
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