Off the wire
• Beijing cuts 2.5 million tonnes of coal consumption in 2016  • Former official of Xiamen arrested for corruption  • Taiwan seizes 200 kg of cocaine in largest-ever drug case  • African smallholders reeling from climate change impacts: expert  • Thailand welcomes 30 millionth foreign visitor for 2016, a Chinese tourist  • Prosecution starts closing arguments in Mladic genocide trial  • China, Djibouti to strengthen military cooperation  • Full Text: Beijing Proposal -- In Commemoration of the 30th Anniversary of the UN Declaration on the Right to Development  • South Sudan denies losing border town in fighting with opposition forces  • Declined foreign trading pushes down Nairobi bourse  
You are here: 　 Home

Greek court rules against extradition of three Turkish military officers

Xinhua, December 6, 2016 Adjust font size:

A Greek court ruled on Monday against the extradition to Ankara of three of the eight Turkish military officers who fled to Greece in July a day after the failed coup attempt in Turkey.

The Athens Appeals Court accepted the officers' arguments that they should not be sent back to Turkey as their safety would be in danger, Greek national news agency AMNA reported.

During the hearing, the prosecutor noted that family members of the officers had already suffered pressure in Turkey, according to AMNA.

The prosecutor also referred to the recent European Parliament decision to freeze accession talks for Turkey, citing "shortage of democracy."

The court was expected to rule on the fate of the other five Turkish nationals later this week.

All the officers have claimed from the first moment they landed in the northern Greek city of Alexandroupolis in a Turkish military helicopter that they had had no involvement in the coup attempt.

Ankara submitted a request for their extradition insisting the officers had actively participated in the failed coup.

"It is a ruling which is not only legally and ethically correct, but shows the strength of Greek justice," Professor Christos Milonopoulos, one of the officers' attorneys, said in a statement issued after the decision.

Following Monday's ruling, the legal process in Greece is over, unless Turkey sends another extradition request with other charges against the officers. Endit