Romanian court ruled on Friday for the extradition of two Turkish fugitives who were on the run after facing charges of wiretapping President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan's office while he was prime minister.
The two suspects, Sedat Zavar and İlker Usta, fled abroad to avoid being questioned as part of an operation in Turkey to dismantle the investigation into illegal activities of the Gülen Movement, led by the U.S.-based retired imam Fethullah Gülen.
After Turkey sent an investigation file prepared by a prosecutors' office to Romania, the two alleged Gülen Movement-linked suspects, stood trial at a Romanian court for a second time on Friday.
After the court decision, the two suspects are expected to be sent to Turkey for a hearing scheduled for May 4 in Ankara. Prosecutors are looking at between 21 to 36 years imprisonment for the suspects.
The suspects are accused of eavesdropping on Turkey's top officials and of disclosing information of a highly sensitive nature as well as "forming an organization to commit a crime and being a member of this organization," "violating privacy," "illegally seizing personal information" and "forgery of official documents."
