Lawyers for an Australian drug fugitive told a judge Tuesday that their client was unlawfully extradited from Greece over the weekend.
In Tony Mokbel's first hearing since his Saturday return, Magistrate Ian Gray agreed to delay the trial until June 24 while the lawyers prepared their case.
They plan to argue the transfer from Greece was unlawful because he was still awaiting an appeal ruling from the European Court of Human Rights about his extradition.
Mokbel was not required to enter any pleas at Tuesday's hearing. He appeared via video link from Barwon Prison, where was taken on his arrival Saturday to serve a 12-year sentence for cocaine smuggling. He was convicted in absentia for those charges after skipping bail in 2006.
Mokbel was arrested on an Interpol warrant last year to face 18 new charges in Australia, most of them drug related. He also was charged with killing Melbourne underworld figure Lewis Moran and drug dealer Michael Marshall.
Mokbel has said he is innocent and fought extradition, arguing he could not get a fair trial in Australia. His defense team has said senior police and government officials have publicly blamed Mokbel for crimes of which he has not been convicted.
