Fugitive suspect to be detained for 40 days
HASKOVO
A Bulgarian court has ruled that Levent Göktaş, a fugitive suspect in the 2002 murder of Turkish academic Necip Hablemitoğlu, who was well-known for his research and books on FETÖ, be kept in detention for 40 days.
Levent Göktaş, one of the suspects of the assassination of Ankara University’s Hablemitoğlu, was brought to the court accompanied by the police for the case regarding his extradition to Türkiye.
The prosecutors requested that Göktaş, who was sought with a red notice, be “temporarily detained for 40 days.”
Accepting this request, the court cited the fact that Göktaş was a foreigner, did not have a fixed residence, and was suspected of escaping.
The Turkish Interior Ministry announced on Sept. 2 that Göktaş was caught in Svilengrad, Bulgaria.
Göktaş was caught by Bulgarian security forces after Interpol issued a “red notice” for him, and the Justice Ministry started proceedings for his extradition to Türkiye.
Stating that he personally talked with his Bulgarian counterpart, Ivan Demerdzhiev, twice, Interior Minister Süleyman Soylu underlined that the Turkish Embassy to Bulgaria, the Turkish Foreign Ministry and Türkiye’s National Intelligence Organization (MİT) were in talks.
The suspect will either be deported or the court process will take place, Soylu said. “No matter which, we look forward to both of these processes.”
Hablemitoğlu was assassinated in 2002 in front of his house, but the case was never solved.