A Greek court in Athens issued an injunction freezing asylum granted to a Turkish military officer who fled to a Greek island in the Aegean Sea along with seven other officers after an attempted coup in 2016 summer.
After diplomatic pressure from Ankara, the Greek government sought cancellation of the decision and appealed it to an appeals court in Athens. The court suspended the asylum status to the soldier given by an independent asylum council in late December.
It sparked outrage in Turkey and added a new layer of tension to already strained relations over the situation of eight officers.
Greek Supreme Court decided not to extradite the soldiers back to Turkey, citing the lack of fair trial and rampant allegations of torture in prison.
The appeals court stated that it was freezing the asylum “for reasons of public interest.” A formal court hearing will take place against the asylum board’s decision on Feb. 15, Reuters reported.
Comments are closed.