GREECE: Court to decide whether to extradite top Australian fugitive

A Greek court will rule on Thursday (July 26) whether to extradite to Australia its top fugitive Tony Mokbel, who told a court hearing on Tuesday (July 24) he will not receive a fair trial at home. Mokbel's defence argued that the case has been biased by negative media attention and negative comments by government officials in Australia, and under human rights law trying him in Australia would be unjust. Mokbel's lawyer Yannis Vlachos told reporters after the appeals court hearing Mokbel would appeal to Greece's highest court, should the court of appeal rule in favour of his extradition. "Our hope is that the court's decision will be positive and there will be no need to make an appeal," said Vlachos. "If however it is negative then we will appeal to the Supreme Court." Defence witness Mirko Bagaric, a human rights law professor at Australia's Deakin University who was called by the defence to appear at the hearing, told the court there was no person in the state of Victoria who had not been "poisoned" by negative media coverage and comments by Australian politicians about Mokbel, and therefore an Australian jury would be biased in their decision if Mokbel faced an Australian court. "I should think given the great amount of media coverage of this in Australia, and in particular given the negative statements made by high level government officials in Victoria against Tony, it's probably impossible to get 12 impartial, independent Victorians that can hear the case against Tony," Bagaric said. "And I think as a result of that perhaps the state of Victoria has lost its right to try Tony Mokbel," Bagaric said. Known as "Fat Tony", Mokbel, 42, was sought by international police until his arrest in Greece on June 5. He was sentenced in absentia to 12 years in prison in Australia for trafficking cocaine and police are seeking his extradition to complete his sentence. He is also wanted on suspicion of ordering and paying for the murder of rival crime boss Lewis Moran and another man, although he denies any involvement. The Australian mobster, who used the name Stephen Papas while staying in Greece, also awaits trial by a Greek court on charges of using a forged Australian passport and driver's licence, which was postponed on Tuesday due to the second hearing. He is also being investigated for money laundering. Mokbel was angered by comments by the three-judge panel that Tuesday's process should be brief due to a heatwave, as well as the poor translation of his comments. The process was interrupted several times by complaints by the defence over the quality of the translation. Mokbel has been held in an Athens jail since his arrest in an Athens suburb after a tip off from Australian authorities, after a year on the run. He had been living in Greece for nine months with his girlfriend, daughter and their baby. Australian authorities filed an extradition request immediately after his arrest. ends

ITN Source | July 25, 2007

Tags:. .seeking. .witness. .stephen. .attention. .lewis