He says he is "happy" to have found his relatives, his family, his friends.
Three days after his release, Fabien Azoulay, who had been sentenced to almost 17 years in prison in Turkey, then five years in Paris, confided his relief in an interview broadcast this Friday on BFMTV.
“I feel a lot better than when I was imprisoned.
I feel relieved, happy to be with my loved ones, my family, my friends, he said.
I do not yet fully realize.
It's like a soft landing.
"
The 43-year-old Franco-American was arrested in Istanbul in 2017 in possession of GBL, a solvent classified as "narcotic" and banned in Turkey, but listed in France only as "poisonous substance".
Ingested in small quantities, it can be used as a sexual stimulant.
Violence in prison
In Turkey to make hair implants, Fabien Azoulay was accused of having bought on the Internet a can of GBL, delivered to his hotel.
He was unaware, according to his lawyers, that this product was banned in this country.
“I bought a two-liter can - that was the minimum order quantity, for fun,” he explained on BFMTV.
Fabien Azoulay was then placed in detention for four years.
Four years during which he was the victim of violence, because, according to his lawyers, of his Jewish religion and his homosexuality.
“An inmate assaulted me, who had arrived in the cell two days earlier.
He sent me a kettle of hot water on my body, face, shouting
Allahu akbar
.
Clearly, someone had told him I was Jewish or gay, ”he said.
After an exchange between Emmanuel Macron and his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan, on the sidelines of the NATO summit on June 14, the transfer of the tourist had been obtained.
Arrived on August 17 in prison in France, Fabien Azoulay was released from prison last Tuesday, due to a modification of the sentence.
On October 1, the Paris Criminal Court had indeed reduced, as part of the transfer agreement concluded between France and Turkey, his sentence to five years in prison. This is the maximum penalty in France for "criminal association with a view to committing an offense" and "concealment of an offense", in this case the sale of GBL. The court, however, rejected his request for release. His lawyers then filed a request for a modification of the sentence, "which led to his release" Tuesday, they said in the statement.
Now out of prison, Fabien Azoulay's goal is to "do everything" so that his name "is cleared of all accusations," he said.
The ex-tourist confides in having the need to “rebuild” himself, and “to try to appreciate the little things in life, the autumn leaves, the Parisian cold.
It's a rebirth for me.
And at one point or another, return home to New York.
"