Tbilisi Court of Appeal Refuses Refugee Status to Mustafa Emre Çabuk

Tbilisi Court of Appeal has left the decision to refuse to grant refugee status to former Manager of Demirel College, Mustafa Emre Çabuk, and to the members of his family, unchanged, despite Mustafa Emre Çabuk’s lawyers requesting to annul it, the Georgian Public Broadcaster reports. 

Mustafa Emre Çabuk lawyers presented the Human Rights Watch Report 2018 to the court, describing the situation in Turkey and its penitential system. Tuba Çabuk, wife of Mustafa Emre Chabuk, also testified in front of the court, according to Georgian Public Broadcaster. 

The former Demirel College Manager was detained in May 2017 in Tbilisi, accused of allegedly being involved with a terrorist organization associated with US based Fethullah Gülen. He was later refused refugee status in Georgia, by the Ministry of Internally Displaced Persons, Accommodation and Refugees in Georgia; with his pre-extradition time ending in February 2018. 

“I’m not surprised with the court’s decision, if it were a democratic court, my husband would have been freed today. We’re continuing to fight to prove my husband is not guilty. If my husband is extradited, I’ll have to go to Turkey, but I feel safer in Georgia” quoted in a comment by the Georgian Public Broadcaster, Tuba Çabuk says. 

Also, according to GPB, Sozar Subari, Minister of Internally Displaced Persons from the Occupied Territories, Accommodation and Refugees of Georgia, has stated that under the guarantee received from the Turkish part, in case Mustafa Emre Çabuk is extradited, he will be placed in the penitential institution which is in accordance to the standards of European Convention of the Human Rights. 

“This is a very serious guarantee for us and I repeat, it will only happen if the extradition trial begins”, Sozar Subari is being quoted saying. At this stage, according to Subari, it only concerns the case of whether Çabuk should be granted refugee status, and whether Çabuk’s case contains criminal charges or has political elements to it.

Photo source: GPB

By Nino Gugunishvili