UK court orders Kani Yilmaz extradited to Germany

[IG-H at TRILOS.han.de]

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                                                       Hannover, 14.08.97.

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  UK court orders Kani Yilmaz extradited to Germany

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 By Orya Sultan Halisdemir / Turkish Daily News
 
London - Kani Yilmaz, spokesman of the ERNK, the political wing of the
outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), is to be extradited to
Germany sometime this week, his British legal team told TDN.

The extradition order will be carried out this week following Home
Secretary Jack Straw's decision to refuse Yilmaz's appeal against the
order.

The legal team's spokesperson said that the exact date for the
extradition cannot be given due to security reasons. "We are hopeful
that Yilmaz will be released shortly after being detained for the
offenses he faces in Germany," the same spokesperson stated, quoting
Yilmaz's solicitor in Germany.

His legal team had appealed to Home Secretary Jack Straw at the end of
June after exhausting all legal means to prevent his extradition to
Germany. The team believed the change of government in the UK would
make a big difference in deciding on the extradition order.

Yilmaz was arrested on the order of the former Home Secretary Michael
Howard on the grounds of national security on Oct. 26 on his way to
address the British Parliament at the invitation of MPs. Later, on
Nov. 10, 1994, the Home Secretary suspended deportation proceedings
following a request for extradition by the Federal Republic of Germany
for Yilmaz's alleged involvement in a wave of bombing attacks against
various German and Turkish installations in Germany.

The High Court of Justice had refused Yilmaz's appeal against the
extradition on July 4 last year. In its judgement, the High Court had
ruled that the wave of attacks against Turkey and Germany were
politically motivated but could not come within the definition of
"offences of a political character" because they were not exclusively
directed towards changing the policies of the requesting state alone.
The lawyers for Yilmaz had appealed to the House of Lords, which has a
judicial function as the final court of appeal from the courts of all
the constituent parts of the UK on points of law for civil and
criminal cases. The appeal to the House of Lords was grounded on the
legal point of whether the 1989 Extradition Act permits a dual purpose
in its definition of a political offense; in this case that an offense
can be of a political nature if it is directed at the German and
Turkish states simultaneously. This is an attempt by the lawyers to
mark Yilmaz's offenses as "political," in which case Yilmaz would have
been able to apply for political asylum in Britain.

- -- 
Press-Agency Ozgurluk: http://www.ozgurluk.org
The struggle for human right, freedom, justice and democracy in Turkey
and Kurdistan
Mailinglistinfo: petidomo at ozgurluk.xs4all.nl

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