Madalin NecsutuChisinauBIRNFebruary 17, 202313:32Moldovan judges have sent the case of the illegal expulsion of seven teachers to Turkey in 2018 back to prosecutors, potentially ‘opening the door to the re-prosecution of everyone involved in the case’, a lawyer said.

Moldova to Reopen File on Illegal Rendition of Turkish Teachers

Moldovan SIS special troops during training on June 4, 2021. Photo: SIS Facebook page

The Chisinau Court of Appeal on Thursday resent to prosecutors the file on the investigation of the former head of the Intelligence and Security Service, SIS, Vasile Botnari, related to a case of abuse of power.

Botnari ran the SIS when seven Turkish private school teachers were sent back to Turkey on September 6, 2018, on the pretext of their alleged involvement in terrorist activities.

In 2018, President Recep Erdogan’s government in Ankara launched a major operation in Europe and Africa to extradite Turks seen as linked to his archfoe the exiled cleric Fethullah Gullen, who lives in the US and is blamed by the Erdogan government for a failed 2016 coup attempt. He has always denied involvement.

Botnari previously admitted guilt to acts of illegal extradition. But the case was tried in secret because it related to national security. And he was only fined 88,000 lei, about 4,400 euros.

The former head of the SIS also paid the Finance Ministry compensation of 125,000 euros as expenses following the conviction of Moldova before the European Court of Human Rights and another 348,000 lei [about 17,000 euros] – to the Intelligence and Security Service for the charter flight on which the expelled teachers were transported to Turkey.

After significant public pressure, the case of the rendition of the teachers was declassified in the summer of 2022. The declassification of the file allowed a request for a retrial of the case.

The lawyer of one of the expelled teachers, Galina Tüfekçi, who was not initially recognized as an injured party in the case, Vadim Vieru, argues that when the case was declassified, it was clear that numerous procedural errors had been committed.

Vieru told BIRN that resending the file to the prosecutors allows them to investigate the case properly. “Prosecutors have opened the door to re-prosecuting everyone involved in this case,” he said.

“It is the first time in the Chisinau Court of Appeal’s practice that the judges issued such a decision. They sent the file back to the Prosecutor’s Office to restore Galina Tüfekçi’s violated rights.”

Botnari’s wife, Ana Botnari, has also asked to reopen the case because she says her own rights were violated; Botnari had to pay his fine from the family budget.

Botnari was close to the now fugitive oligarch Vladimir Plahotniuc. Allegedly, as a result of this deal, Turkey offered Plahotniuc a safe haven after he fled Moldova on June 14, 2009, when he lost power. It is thought he is hiding now in Turkey or Northern Cyprus.

Source link: balkaninsight.com