According to previous rulings by Bosnia’s Court in similar cases, Richmond Park Schools principal Fatih Keskin, a Turkish citizen who was residing in Bosnia for decades and was arrested on Tuesday, should not be extradited to Turkey, State Court Judge Branko Peric and investigative journalist Avdo Avdic told N1 on Thursday.
According to Richmond Park Schools, Keskin was not allowed to contact his attorney when he spoke to police. The next time his family heard from him, he reportedly said he was in the migrant detention centre in Lukavica, near Sarajevo.
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Avdic said that Turkish authorities have annulled Keskin’s documents and that Turkey’s President during his visit to Bosnia “asked for the Gulenists, members of the so-called terrorist organisation FETO which only the Turkish Government considers to be terrorist, to be extradited to him.”
“What could objectively be a circumstance in the case is that the Turkish Government annulled his documents and now he has an unresolved status in Bosnia and Herzegovina,” Avdic said of Keskin.
But he also recalled that the Bosnia’s Court “already ruled in several cases that Turkish citizens in the country cannot be extradited to Turkey as, according to the opinion of the Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina and the Court in Strasbourg, FETO is not a terrorist organisation but an organisation which Turkey considers to be terrorist.”
“There can be certain problems, but he cannot be extradited to Turkey,” he added.
Peric told N1 that he does not have enough information to comment on the case but that “it could be a problem if Bosnia and Herzegovina acted out of political reasons.”
“Even more so because this person stayed in the country with valid documents. He has a right to seek asylum,” Peric said.
Avdic said that the law is being applied selectively in Bosnia.
“I have no problem with the law being implemented for all foreigners. But I have a problem when some allegedly friendly countries request such an activity. The Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina has already handed down rulings in similar cases,” he said.
“I don’t believe that this gentleman will be extradited, he can only be handed a decision on deportation,” he stressed.
