French, Belgian prosecutors interrogate ISIL suspects involved in Paris bombings in Turkey

İZMİR – Doğan News Agency

Prosecutors from France and Belgium interrogated three Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) suspects in Turkey in relation to the ISIL attacks in Paris that left 132 people dead on Nov. 13, 2015.

The testimonies of the suspects, identified as 27-year-old Ahmed D., a Belgian citizen with Moroccan origins, 30-year-old Syrian Ahmed T. and 24-year-old Mohammad V., were taken by the French and Belgian prosecutors under strict security measures in the Aegean province of İzmir on May 12. 

The justice ministries of France and Belgium applied to the Turkish Justice Ministry to take the testimonies of the three suspects and the prosecutors arrived in Turkey after they received permission. 

The delegation of 16 took the testimonies in a hidden room, while Turkish and French intelligence units were also present during the interrogation.

The suspects had been caught in the Mediterranean province of Antalya and sentenced to 10 years and nine months in prison for being members of ISIL and their involvement in the Paris attacks. 

Ahmed D., who is also known as “Ebu Ahmed Belciki,” allegedly did reconnaissance in the places where the attacks took place and escaped Paris on the night of the bombings. He arrived in Antalya by plane on Nov. 14, 2015, and went to a hotel in the province’s Manavgat district. 

He was detained in Antalya on Nov. 16, 2015, and drawings of the places that were bombed in Paris were found in his bag. 

The police then determined that two other people who had entered Turkey from Syria and arrived in Antalya from the southeastern border province of Kilis by private car were due to meet Ahmed D.

The police then detained Ahmed T. and Muhammed V., who were planning to take Ahmed D. to Syria on Nov. 16, 2015, which was the day that the G-20 leaders met in Antalya. 

The suspects were arrested by the court and sent to the Menemen district of İzmir to serve their prison sentences.