A former prosecutor claiming he fled to Ireland due to repercussions from the 2016 military coup attempt in Turkey has avoided jail and criminal conviction for breaking immigration laws.
Sadullah Ovacikli, 44, from Turkey, who has no fixed address in Ireland, was stopped at Dublin Airport on September 11th after arriving at Terminal 1 with a fake German passport and was charged with two offences.
He did not apply for bail and faced his third hearing when he appeared via video link at Cloverhill District Court on Wednesday when Judge John Brennan noted the “extraordinary circumstances” of the case.
Ovacikli, who had the assistance of an interpreter, pleaded guilty to not possessing a valid passport or other equivalent document to establish his identity and nationality and failing to produce a passport on demand.
Garda Christopher Glennon of the Garda National Immigration Bureau (GNIB) told the court the accused presented at border control at Terminal 1 after arriving on a flight from Athens.
He produced a false passport in the name of Felix Christian Muller and was refused entry.
The offence, on conviction, can carry a 12-month prison sentence and a fine of up to €3,000.
Garda Glennon said Ovacikli had no convictions in this state, but the judge enquired whether he had a record elsewhere. The GNIB officer said confirmation was still awaited if there were convictions in Turkey.
He agreed with defence counsel Eloise Flynn that her client had been a legal practitioner in Turkey.
Garda Glennon said that when the accused was searched, his Turkish driving licence and national ID card were found on him, but they were not sufficient travel documents for flying.
Pleading for leniency, Ms Flynn said Ovacikli had been a prosecutor in Turkey for more than a decade.
Counsel said she was instructed that due to circumstances in Turkey, her client “did not have access to his passport and had to flee the jurisdiction”.
The court heard his family left Turkey last year and went to Europe; his wife remained supportive and had contacted him while he was in custody.
Ms Flynn pleaded with the judge to note he had been incarcerated for the past 23 days, and it had been difficult for Ovacikli due to overcrowding in prison and racial abuse. She added that he was very sorry for his actions.
Judge Brennan was curious about why he fled but said the accused was not obliged to tell the court if it affected any future applications he makes about remaining in the State.
Addressing the court via the translator, Ovacikli said: “I was a prosecutor until 2016; I worked for 12 years consecutively.
He said, “In 2016, in Turkey, there was a military coup; the president who has been running the country for 32 years,” but at that point, Judge Brennan told him he was aware of the background.
Judge Brennan said he wanted to know why Ovacikli fled in 2024, but he reminded him that he did not have to answer that question.
Ovacikli claimed he was banned from travelling for eight years, and his passport was cancelled.
“My working and living conditions in Turkey were awful; they didn’t allow me to seek other employment; I couldn’t continue my job as a lawyer or solicitor. My family was not in a very secure situation,” he told the court.
He added that they got out last year, and “I waited patiently for eight years, but I was denied my passport”.
Judge Brennan noted the immigration garda had no way of disputing his evidence.
The judge said there was no gainsaying the seriousness of arriving in the State with false documents and the accused should not get special treatment because he is a lawyer.
If anything, it was an aggravating factor, and as a lawyer, Ovacikli would have been well aware that the law of any jurisdiction should be complied with, the judge said. However, he also noted what he termed “extraordinary circumstances” and said he could take judicial notice of the events in relation to lawyers and judges in Turkey some years ago.
He applied the Probation of Offenders Act, sparing him a criminal record and a sentence for the immigration offences.
Judge Brennan said he accepted the defendant’s evidence about his circumstances for the past eight years and took into account the mitigating points raised by Ms Flynn and that he had been held in custody since September 11th.
“Thank you,” the accused said at the end of the hearing after learning he would not have a criminal record in Ireland and his release would be imminent.
