site.btaBourgas Court Orders 25-Day Detention for Man Wanted by Turkish Authorities for Terrorism

Bourgas Court Orders 25-Day Detention for Man Wanted by Turkish Authorities for Terrorism

Bourgas, on the Black Sea, June 21 (BTA) - The Bourgas District Court Tuesday ordered 25-day detention in custody for Mikail Almis, the Prosecution Service said in a press release.

Almis, 42, is wanted by the Turkish judicial authorities to face criminal charges of participating in the terrorist organization PKK and staging armed raids of Turkish villages in 1995. Turkey is seeking his extradition through Interpol.

Turkey has 25 days to send the required documents proving the terrorism charges. If the documents do not arrive by that deadline, Almis will be released, the District Court said.

The man, who holds dual Turkish and French citizenship and identifies himself as a Kurd, was detained at Bourgas Airport on June 17. His lawyer Vladimir Ivanov told the court on Tuesday that he had arrived in the coastal city for a holiday. It emerged at the hearing that Almis is a political emigre in France, where he fled after what happened in 1995.

The prosecutor argued that, on the basis of the case file, it can be reasonably presumed that Almis committed the crime of which he is charged and which, on conviction, carries life imprisonment in Turkey. The prosecutor insisted that, unless detained, the man may abscond.

The ruling is appealable within three days before the Bourgas Appellate Court.