Going underground
Two very different fugitives who fled to Belgium have been making the headlines in the past week. First up was Arsenal and England footballer Sol Campbell who recently disappeared halfway through a Premiership match. According to the British tabloids, Campbell decided to lie low in Brussels after this incident. He is set to return to first team action this week.
Less likely to be returning to action is Yalçin Özbey, a former member of Turkey's far-right Grey Wolves organisation who is accused of murdering Abdi Ipekçi, editor-in-chief of the newspaper Milliyet in February 1979. Özbey is alleged to have carried out the crime together with Mehmet Ali Agça, the man who shot Pope John Paul II.
Özbey is currently being held in Brussels's Forest prison after being arrested on March 8th for handling stolen goods. Özbey, who claims to have renounced his former life, has been living in Brussels since 1997, running a hardware store and later a nightshop. His past may catch up with him however, as he faces the prospect of being extradited to Turkey to stand trial for the murder of Ipekçi.
Özbey is not the only notorious foreign criminal to have found Belgium to his liking as my previous post on Clark Olofsson, 'Return of an anti-hero' illustrates.
And Campbell is not the first stressed public figure to hide out over here either, his disappearing act being highly reminiscent of that of actor, author and wit, Stephen Fry, who walked out halfway through a West End run of Simon Gray's play, Cell Mates, and was next sighted in Bruges.
I can see why all four chose Belgium - it's a a low-profile kind of place where people respect each other's privacy; ideal for going underground.
Less likely to be returning to action is Yalçin Özbey, a former member of Turkey's far-right Grey Wolves organisation who is accused of murdering Abdi Ipekçi, editor-in-chief of the newspaper Milliyet in February 1979. Özbey is alleged to have carried out the crime together with Mehmet Ali Agça, the man who shot Pope John Paul II.
Özbey is currently being held in Brussels's Forest prison after being arrested on March 8th for handling stolen goods. Özbey, who claims to have renounced his former life, has been living in Brussels since 1997, running a hardware store and later a nightshop. His past may catch up with him however, as he faces the prospect of being extradited to Turkey to stand trial for the murder of Ipekçi.
Özbey is not the only notorious foreign criminal to have found Belgium to his liking as my previous post on Clark Olofsson, 'Return of an anti-hero' illustrates.
And Campbell is not the first stressed public figure to hide out over here either, his disappearing act being highly reminiscent of that of actor, author and wit, Stephen Fry, who walked out halfway through a West End run of Simon Gray's play, Cell Mates, and was next sighted in Bruges.
I can see why all four chose Belgium - it's a a low-profile kind of place where people respect each other's privacy; ideal for going underground.
posted by Justin Toland at 11:26 pm
1 Comments:
I had to smile over your 'it's a a low-profile kind of place where people respect each other's privacy; ideal for going underground.'
Underground ... are we talking social death? :)
I've been working on getting legal in Belgie, no worklife means no huge exposure to people in Belgium ... and those I do meet, well yes - they 'respect my privacy'... so different to previous countries of residence where one is hauled into the culture willing or not.
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