Greek court hears appeal cases of coup-linked soldiers
Tuesday sees start of proceedings involving 8 Turkish soldiers wanted by Ankara for alleged involvement in 15 July coup
- World
- Published Date: 12:00 | 11 January 2017
- Modified Date: 09:19 | 11 January 2017
A Greek Supreme Court judge said she stands against the extradition of two Turkish soldiers allegedly involved in the defeated 15 July 2016 coup attempt, a defense lawyer told Anadolu Agency on Tuesday.
The cases of Capt. Suleyman Ozkaynakci and Sgt. Bilal Kurugul, came before the Supreme Court on Tuesday but a final decision will be announced in two weeks, the men's lawyer, Christos Mylonopoulos, confirmed.
That decision will be final and the only way to appeal it will be through the European Court of Justice.
The appeal cases of six other Turkish soldiers will be heard in Greece on Wednesday and Friday.
On Monday, a day before the case reopened, the leader of a group of European Parliament lawmakers sent a letter to Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras about the case.
Guy Verhofstadt, head of the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe, wrote that he hoped "European values and principles" would be applied to the accused soldiers' cases.
The eight men arrived in Greece a few hours after the 15 July 2016 coup attempt on a hijacked Black Hawk helicopter and immediately requested asylum.
The failed attempt to overthrow the Turkish government left 242 people martyred and more than 2,000 injured.
Turkey continues to request the extradition of the eight soldiers, promising to provide fair trials.
Anadolu Agency