Turkey court acquits Syrian pilot in absentia in espionage trial

A Turkish court has acquitted a Syrian pilot of espionage, following his release two years ago.

2 min read

27 February, 2019

The Syrian pilot was briefly detained by Turkey [Getty]

A Syrian military pilot who was detained in 2017 when his jet crashed in Turkey has been acquitted of espionage, local media reported after being tried in absentia.

The 58-year-old colonel was judged and acquitted by a court in Hatay, southeastern Turkey, the DHA news agency reported, although he was not present at the hearing.

He was released released and handed over to Syrian authorities in October 2017 when relations between Turkey and Bashar al-Assad regime ally Russia improved, following a diplomatic crisis related to tensions over Syria's war.

He had been accused of "spying" and "attempting to destroy military installations" and was facing up to 12 years in prison.

He was captured after his plane crashed and ejected in a Turkish region near the Syrian border in March 2017.

He was reportedly downed in northern Syria, Turkish authorities who spoke to the pilot claimed, but Syrian official agency SANA said the crash was due to a technical problem.

Moscow and Ankara have improved their cooperation on Syria, after the crisis when a Russian plane was downed by Turkey in 2015.

Turkey and Russia have been on opposite sides of the Syria war, with Ankara backing Syrian rebels.

Both sides are also sponsoring an agreement on a demilitarised zone in Idlib province.

Syria's civil war was triggered by the Assad regime's bloody repression of peaceful protests, with 500,000 killed in the subsequent fighting and regime bombing.