Arrested in Turkey, Fabien Azoulay about to be transferred to France

Fabien Azoulay, a Frenchman sentenced to sixteen years in prison by the Turkish justice system for possession of narcotics, was to be transferred to France on Tuesday to finish serving his sentence.

“We are pleased to announce that Fabien Azoulay, detained in Turkey for four years, will be transferred to France today [mardi]”Their lawyers Yo Carole-Olivia Montenot and Yo François Zimeray declared in a press release, hailing” the result of a long struggle in which the mobilization of public opinion was decisive. “

“Nice news, great relief, the culmination of a collective and just mobilization,” French Secretary of State for European Affairs, Clément Beaune, wrote on Twitter.

During a short trip to Istanbul in 2017 to manufacture hair implants, Fabien Azoulay, now 43, was arrested for purchasing a vial of GBL on the internet.

GBL is a chemical used as a paint thinner that, when ingested, turns into GHB, also known as the “rapist’s drug” in the body.

According to his lawyers, he was unaware that this product had been banned in Turkey six months earlier and had been delivered “in good faith”.

The French, also of American nationality, had been sentenced to twenty years in prison for “importing narcotics”, a sentence that was later reduced to sixteen years and eight months on appeal.

“As soon as he reaches French territory, we will go to the competent court for the next release of Fabien Azoulay,” say the lawyers, who intend to submit an application to adapt his sentence and return it to five years, as planned. because in the French penal code for this crime.

In April, Mes Montenot and Zimeray had raised their client’s case publicly for the first time, stating that he had been “a victim of aggravated violence committed by a fellow prisoner” who had inflicted on him in 2018 “burns due to his homosexuality.” and of his belonging to the Jewish religion ”.