TCC upholds Chabuk's denial of refugee status

The Tbilisi City Court (TCC) has upheld the refusal to grant refugee status to Mustafa Emre Chabuk, whom Turkish law enforcers treat as a supporter of Fethullah Gülen. The defence of Mr Chabuk will appeal against this decision at the Court of Appeal, Soso Baratashvili, Chabuk's advocate, told the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that on May 24, Turkish lecturer Mustafa Emre Çabuk was detained in the Georgian capital at the request of Turkey. On May 26, the court sentenced him to three months of arrest with further extradition. Mustafa Emre Çabuk has been working in Georgia since 2002, and in recent years, he worked as a manager at the Tbilisi Private Demirel College. After his detention, Mustafa Emre Çabuk has applied for refugee status, but was refused, and he challenged the refusal.

In Turkey, Mustafa Çabuk was accused of having links with the FETO, an organization of supporters of the preacher Fethullah Gulen. Mustafa himself has refused to plead guilty.

"The TCC has disregarded a number of documents submitted by us, including the EU's resolution, the report of the Commissioner of the Council of Europe and the preliminary report of the UN's Special Representative. We consider the TCC's decision to be wrong and will appeal against it at the Court of Appeal," Mr Baratashvili said, adding that the TCC will provide the defence with the reasoned decision within two weeks; then, the defence will have two weeks to submit an appeal, and it will certainly do it.

Earlier, the representative of the European Parliament urged Georgian authorities not to extradite Mustafa Emre Chabuk to Turkey. The Amnesty International also warned the Georgian authorities against his extradition, expressing fears that he might face torture and other ill-treatment in Turkey.

Full text of the article is available on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’.