Temel Alsancak, one of the alleged organizers of the 2016 assassination of Russian Ambassador to Ankara Andrei Karlov, lives in the US state of Texas, where he created front companies to provide visas to members of the organization of preacher Fehtuhallah Gülen (FETÖ), outlawed in Türkiye, reported from the Sabah newspaper.

"The newspaper found Temel Alsancak, codenamed 'Kadir', the 'Chief Imam of the Turkish Police', who instructed Mevlut Mert Altintas, the police officer who killed the Russian ambassador to Ankara Andrei Karlov. He lives in Dallas, Texas,” the newspaper writes.

According to the newspaper, the fugitive FETÖ member set up front companies ‘both to hide intelligence information’ and through them to issue work visas for members of the banned organization in Türkiye.

Karlov was shot dead on December 19, 2016 at the opening of a photo exhibition in Ankara. The attack was carried out by police officer Mevlut Mert Altintas, who was eliminated by the security forces.

Charges of organizing the murder of the Russian ambassador were brought against 28 suspects, including US-based religious figure Fethullah Gülen, who denied them. In March 2021, the Ankara court delivered a verdict in the case of the murder of Karlov.

Five people were sentenced to life imprisonment. Eight received from three years and nine months to 15 years in prison, six more were acquitted. The cases of nine more wanted defendants, including Gülen, were handled as separate proceedings at the request of the prosecutor's office.

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