JOAQUIN ALLEGEDLY LINKED TO PARIS ATTACKERS IS TO FACE EXTRADITION HEARING IN BULGARIA

The District Court in the South Bulgarian town of Haskovo will sit on 16th of January to consider the request for the extradition of the French citizen Fritz Jolie Joaquin, alleged in involvement in terrorism and reported to have been linked to the Paris attackers, the Kouachi brothers.

Joaquin was detained on 1st of January while crossing the Bulgarian border into Turkey, at “Kapitan Andreevo” Check Point, following a signal that he had abducted his 3 year old son and was trying to take him to Syria to be trained in radical Islam. At the beginning of the week, the court in Haskovo decided to keep Joaquin in custody based on the allegations for the abduction of his son.

A day later, on 12th of January, the Bulgarian authorities received a second arrest warrant for Joaquin, issued by the court in Paris, with allegations of involvement in terrorism – participation in organized criminal group for preparation of terrorist acts.

Joaquin said that he agreed to be extradited as soon as possible. He admitted he had been close to one of the Paris attackers since they were children, but denied the allegations of being involved in a terrorist group.