NEWS

Administrative court rules Turkish serviceman’s detention legal

Administrative court rules Turkish serviceman’s detention legal

A decision by the Hellenic Police’s Aliens’ Department to detain a Turkish serviceman seeking asylum in Greece from prosecution in Turkey over his alleged role in a botched coup in 2016 is legal, an administrative judge ruled on Tuesday.

“His individual behavior, such as his illegal entry into the country, is deemed by the administration as a serious threat to public order and national security,” ruled the presiding judge at Athens’s Administrative Court of First Instance.

The serviceman was detained pending the hearing on February 15 of the government’s appeal against a decision by an independent tribunal to grant him asylum and prevent his extradition to Turkey, where he and eight fellow officers who fled to Greece following the coup’s failure, are to be tried for treason.

The administrative judge also turned down a request by the eight servicemen’s lawyers that they be placed under house arrest, saying that is was in the interest of their own safety that they remain in detention.

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