Fabien Azoulay, a Frenchman detained in Turkey, will be transferred to France on Tuesday – franceinfo

Fabien Azoulay, a Frenchman sentenced to 16 years in prison by Turkish justice for possession of narcotics, must be transferred Tuesday August 17 to France to finish serving his sentence. His lawyers praised “the culmination of a long struggle in which the mobilization of public opinion was decisive”. This is “beautiful news, great relief, the culmination of a collective and just mobilization”, reacted on Twitter the French Secretary of State for European Affairs, Clément Beaune.

During a short trip to Istanbul in 2017 to make hair implants, Fabien Azoulay was arrested for having bought a vial of GBL on the Internet. This chemical is used as a paint solvent and, when ingested, transforms in the body into GHB, a drug which is increasingly used recreationally. According to his lawyers, he did not know that this product had been banned in Turkey six months earlier and had been delivered “in good faith”.

The Frenchman, who also has American nationality, was sentenced to twenty years imprisonment for “importing narcotics”, a sentence then reduced to sixteen years and eight months on appeal. “As soon as he arrives on French territory, we will seize the competent court with a view to the forthcoming release of Fabien Azoulay”, the lawyers said. They intend to file a request to adapt his sentence and reduce it to five years, as provided for in the French Penal Code for this offense. In April, Carole-Olivia Montenot and François Zimeray had reported that their client had been “victim of aggravated violence committed by a fellow prisoner”, who had inflicted on him in 2018 “burns due to his homosexuality and his membership of the Jewish religion”.