Sweden agrees to extradite a man to Turkey.
The Swedish government has decided to extradite to the Turkish state a person wanted there for fraud. This is Sweden’s first response to Turkey’s request to extradite a number of people in exchange for Stockholm’s permission to apply for NATO membership.
Turkey overrode Finland and Sweden’s bid to join NATO in June after weeks of tense negotiations in which Ankara accused the two Nordic countries of harboring what Turkey says are soldiers of the outlawed Workers’ Party. of Kurdistan (PKK).
As part of the deal, Turkey submitted a list of people it wanted Sweden to extradite, but later expressed dismay at the lack of progress.
The first known case of extradition to Turkey since the agreement was signed is a man in his 30s.
Sweden’s Minister of Justice, Morgan Johansson, stated that he was a “Turkish citizen convicted of fraud offenses in Turkey in 2013 and 2016”.
“The Supreme Court examined the case as usual and came to the conclusion that there are no obstacles to extradition,” he said.
A Justice Department spokesman declined to say whether the man was on the list of people Turkey had sought to extradite.
Swedish media reported that a man was sentenced in Turkey to 14 years in prison for several cases of bank card fraud.
The convict, who has been in custody in Sweden since last year, says he was convicted because he converted to Christianity, refused military service and has Kurdish roots.