Italy’s headline arrest of Turkish crime boss Barış (also known as Boris) Boyun and its attempt to return him to his native country has hit the nation’s toughest legal obstacle: Judges cannot approve extradition if there is a real risk of torture or degrading treatment in Turkey.

That obligation, reaffirmed by Italy’s Supreme Court of Cassation (Corte Suprema di Cassazione) in an April ruling, means Boyun is likely to remain under Italian judicial oversight while the courts conduct a meticulous review of evidence and human rights concerns, relying on independent reports rather than assurances from Turkish authorities.

Established crime bosses like Boyun and other notorious Turks who fled to Europe to escape criminal charges are now exploiting the dire record of the government of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, which for over a decade has weaponized the justice system to imprison political opponents, silence legitimate dissent and allow widespread abuse and torture in detention and prison facilities as a means of instilling fear among the population.

Compounding Italy’s challenge is the sloppy work by Turkish officials in compiling the investigation file to secure Boyun’s extradition. The dossier is riddled with contradictory details such as dates, times and locations of the alleged crimes and padded with vague, generic statements lacking substance, leaving Italian judicial authorities struggling to assess the true nature of the allegations and the credibility of the evidence.

In April 2025 Italy’s Supreme Court of Cassation annulled a Rome appellate decision that had approved Boyun’s extradition and sent the case back for a fresh ruling. The court stressed that appellate judges cannot patch evidentiary holes in Turkey’s file by leaning on unrelated Italian investigations; the extradition decision must rest on the specific charges and proof from the requesting state.

It also ordered a concrete, individualized appraisal of detention risks in Turkey, drawing on objective and up-to-date materials such as inspections by the European Committee for the Prevention of Torture (CPT), case law from the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) and reports issued by the European Commission, rather than relying on generic diplomatic assurances.

The cassation judgment details why this matters now. Since a 2016 state of emergency in Turkey, international bodies have documented overcrowding, ill-treatment, politicized justice and patchy compliance with Strasbourg rulings. The court cites this body of work and reminds lower benches that Article 3 of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR), which prohibits torture or inhuman or degrading treatment, is absolute.

If risk remains serious at the specific facility proposed for the surrender, such as Dumlu Prison in Turkey, extradition is out unless Turkey can present credible, monitorable safeguards that truly neutralize that risk.

Italy’s line is also consistent with EU law. In June 2024 the........

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