Galery

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The authorities in Turkey have released, without restrictive measures, former Executive Director of Post Bank Angelos Filipidis.

According to sources, there is a problem with the second arrest warrant because the Greek authorities had issued it while Filipidis was in prison in Turkey.

In any case, the Turkish court had defined the first arrest warrant as illegal, because the trial against him in Greece had not been launched. So, the court had decided to release the former director.

Now the procedure connected with the second warrant has to be completed and Filipidis has to appear before the judicial authorities in Greece. It is not yet clear whether the second arrest warrant will be followed by another arrest or if Angelos Filipidis will have to wait for the court in Turkey to consider it, without being able to leave Turkey.

However, it should be noted that, following the decision of the court in Turkey to release the former director, extradition prosecutor Yiannis Angelis had sent another request, namely that the detainee should remain in custody on the basis of the second arrest warrant issued against him for misappropriation while granting bad loans through Post Bank.

According to the court, Filipidis, who was arrested by the Turkish authorities at his hotel in Istanbul on 11 January on the basis of an international arrest warrant, cannot be delivered to the Greek authorities, as "the terms of the European Convention on Extradition are not present."

The information that leaked yesterday made it clear that, unless something goes wrong, the trial in Turkey against the former director of Post Bank should be completed today and it is therefore expected that he will be extradited to Greece in the coming days.

If everything was correct with the second arrest warrant against Filipidis, he should have been extradited within 48 hours after the completion of the trial against him.