The pilot, Mehmet Sufhan, is charged with violation of the country's state border and espionage. He was sent to prison from the hospital where he had been under treatment after the crash, Sputnik reported.
On March 4, the Syrian army lost contact with the jet performing a reconnaissance mission near the Turkish border. The same day, the Ahrar al-Sham militant group claimed to have shot down a Syrian government MiG-21 fighter jet. Turkish Prime Minister Binali Yildirim confirmed that a Syrian military plane had crashed in Turkey’s southern Hatay province.
The pilot managed to eject and landed on Turkey's territory. He was hospitalized.