Omiros Zelios, a lawyer representing eight former Turkish soldiers who fled to Greece seeking asylum on the night of a 2016 coup attempt in Turkey, said on Monday that all his clients were released from police custody last week, according to AP.
They are now living in a secret location under heavy police protection.
The soldiers had been taken into police custody immediately after they arrived in Greece.
The Greek Council of State on May 23 approved Süleyman Özkaynakçı’s application after considering an objection lodged by the Greek government to a decision to grant asylum to the ex-soldier in December 2017.
The decision has created tension between Greece and Turkey.
“It has been thereby reaffirmed by the international community that Greece is a country, which protects and shelters the putschists. We strongly condemn this decision that deeply offends the conscience of the Turkish nation,” a Turkish Foreign Ministry statement said after the Özkaynakçı decision.
The seven other former soldiers’ cases were pending.
According to Greek law, the maximum detention period is 18 months, which ended at the end of May.