Fatih Keskin, a Turkish national who was threatened with deportation from Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) under still unexplained circumstances, left the Immigration Center in East Sarajevo on Monday after spending almost two weeks there.
“I thank to parents, school in Bihac and all those who have supported me in this difficult situation. I am pleased with the decision of the Court of BiH to release me and I am grateful to my lawyers,” Keskin said in his first statement.
Asked if his arrest followed after the pressure of Turkey and whether it has anything to do with the so-called Gulenist movement, Keskin said he knew nothing about it.
“I was arrested and brought here one morning,” and I have no contact with them. I am an ordinary professor and principal of the school, ”he added.
Keskin said he found it difficult to be in custody because he did not know what kind of threat he posed to BiH’s national security. He added that he would consider seeking redress after talking to his lawyers, Klix.ba news portal reports.
Lawyer Nedim Ademovic, who represents the Turkish national and director of Richmond Park College in Bihac, Keskin, told the media that this political persecution was agreed at the political level.
This citizen, national of the Republic of Turkey has resided in BiH for over 20 years, but was recently placed under surveillance by the local authorities at the Immigration Center in Bosnia and Herzegovina’s capital Sarajevo.
Ademovic said that the Court of BiH is required to hear Keskin on Thursday and to give him an opportunity to present his defense and that he expected that he would receive from the Court of BiH a minimum of information about why Keskin was actually declared a threat to BiH’s national security.
Ademovic explained that it was not possible to present adequate defense today, since they still do not have access to the documentation collected by OSA BiH, pointing out that he does not know whether such documentation exists, Klix.ba news portal reports.
He further explained that they presented evidence that Keskin resides lawfully in BiH, that he is a credible and family-friendly man who has never committed a misdemeanor, and in particular violated any criminal laws.
He pointed out that the case was pure political persecution and that the defense provided the Court of BiH with impunity records (as of December 2, 2019), which clearly shows that Keskin was not prosecuted in any way in Turkey.
“We also related to the arguments of BiH Minister of Security Dragan Mektic who said that his passport was allegedly canceled. We claim that this was a political persecution agreed at the political level and which should have resulted in the actual abduction of Keskin and deportation in an emergency procedure. Turkey where he would be imprisoned without any rights,” Ademovic said.
