ANKARA (Sputnik) — The court of Turkish Hatay province has released Mehmet Sufhan, the pilot of the Syrian MiG-21 fighter jet that crashed on Turkish territory in March, from detention, the NTV broadcaster reported on Friday.
According to the report, the trial of the pilot, who is charged with violation of the state border and espionage activities, will continue.
On March 4, the Ahrar al-Sham militant group claimed to have shot down the Syrian army's MiG-21 in northern Syria near the Turkish border. The pilot managed to eject and landed across the border in Turkey’s southern Hatay province. He was hospitalized and subsequently arrested and charged by Ankara on the aforementioned charges.
