Trial on Alleged Killer of Russian Su-24 Pilot May Start Next Week - Lawyer

The trial on Turkish national Alparaslan Celik suspected of killing a Russian Su-24 pilot in Syria may start next week, Celik's lawyer said Thursday.

ANKARA (Sputnik) — Celik was arrested alongside 13 others in the Turkish city of Izmir in early April on charges of illegal gun possession. The suspect previously said that he had not shot at Russian pilot Oleg Peshkov but had merely accepted the responsibility for the killing as a commander of a militant group. Celik insisted he had repeatedly ordered his men to take the Russian pilot prisoner, and not to shoot at him.

"Yesterday we found out in the Prosecutor's Office what was going on. There have been no changes yet, the indictment has not been yet ready. Though, they informed us that the trial would start soon, literally within the next week," the lawyer told RIA Novosti.

The Russian Su-24 combat plane was shot down by a Turkish F-16 fighter jet over Syria on November 24, 2015, and fell four kilometers (2.5 miles) from the Turkish border. The crew of the plane ejected and one of its pilots, Oleg Peshkov, was killed by fire from the ground, while the second pilot survived and was later rescued.

Following the incident, the relations between Russia and Turkey have been strained and Moscow has imposed a set of economic restrictive measures against Turkey in retaliation.