Three days after his release, Fabien Azoulay expressed relief in an interview broadcast on Friday. The 43-year-old had been arrested in Istanbul in 2017 in possession of GBI, a solvent classified and banned as a “narcotic” in Turkey but listed only as a “toxic substance” in France. Taken in small quantities, it can be used as a sexual stimulant. Fabien Azoulay was accused of buying a can of GBL on the internet and bringing it to his hotel while he was in Turkey to get hair implants. According to his lawyers, he did not know that the product was banned in that country. “I bought a two-litre canister – that was the minimum order – just for fun,” he says. Fabien Azoulay was then imprisoned for four years.
According to his lawyers, he was abused during his detention because of his Jewish religion and his homosexuality. “I was attacked by a prisoner who had come to the cell two days earlier. He poured a kettle of hot water on my body, my face and shouted Allah akbar. Obviously someone had told him I was Jewish or gay,” he recounted. Today “I feel much better than when I was imprisoned. I am relieved and happy to be with my loved ones, my family and my friends,” he said. I still don’t quite understand that. It’s like a soft landing.”
After a conversation between Macron and his Turkish counterpart Erdogan on the sidelines of the NATO summit on June 14, the transfer of the tourist was arranged. He appeared in prison on August 17 and was released on Tuesday under an modified sentence. For Fabien Azoulay, from now on, it is a question of “doing everything” to have his name “cleared of all accusations”. He feels he has to ” reconstruct” his life and “try to appreciate the little things in life, the autumn leaves, the Parisian cold. For me, it’s a rebirth. And then at some point it’s back to New York.” La Dépêche
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