On February 1, 2018, the Public Defender of Georgia, Nino Lomjaria, met with the lawyer of Mustafa Emre Çabuk, former manager of Tbilisi Demirel College, his wife and professors of the Black Sea University.

The term of pre-extradition detention of Mustafa Emre Çabuk, who was detained at the request of the Republic of Turkey, is expiring on February 26. Tbilisi City Court and Court of Appeals denied the complaint of Çabuk and his family members, which concerned the refusal of the Ministry of Refugees to grant Çabuk international protection and the issue of Çabuk’s extradition depends on this decision.

The Public Defender unequivocally opposes Mustafa Emre Çabuk’s extradition and presumes that he may be subjected to inhuman treatment and torture in Turkey. In addition, there is no guarantee that his case will be considered according to the principles of a fair trial, which was confirmed by the monitoring reports of a number of international human rights organizations.

"The international obligation of Georgia is not to extradite a person to a country where he/she can become a victim of inhuman treatment and political persecution. Accordingly, the Public Defender will use all available resources, address local and European courts as amicus curiae and appeal to international organizations in order to prevent the extradition of Mustafa Emre Çabuk to the Turkish Republic," the Public Defender said after the meeting.

It should also be emphasized that the Prosecutor's Office of Georgia involved Çabuk’s family members in a special protection program after a number of threats had been made against them.

The wife of the detainee, Tuba Çabuk, and lawyer Soso Baratashvili hope that the measures taken by the Public Defender will be effective and the former manager of the Demirel College will not be extradited.

In addition, it should be noted that the Public Defender negatively assesses the cancellation of authorization for the Private Demirel College and demands the decision to be annulled and a new decision to be made as a result of thorough examination of the case circumstances.