The Kommersant business newspaper said on Thursday that Western law enforcement agencies have turned down Russian extradition and legal assistance requests this year for “political” grounds as bilateral legal cooperation continues to erode more than a year after Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine.
Between January and May 2023, 46 petitions for extradition from Russia were turned down by European nations, according to the report from Russia’s General Prosecutor’s Office.
One-fifth of the EU nations, including Austria, Italy, Germany, and Poland, rejected the proposal for political reasons.
Courts in the EU nations reportedly refused to turn over suspects to Russia due to worries that their rights would be infringed and that they might experience “inhumane” circumstances in Russian prison, according to Kommersant.
Charges of organized crime, terrorism, hostage-taking, manslaughter, as well as economic crimes, are leveled against the accused sought by Russian authorities at home.
In compared to the time before the conflict, the number of Russian extradition petitions that have been denied has increased by a factor of two since Russia began its “special military operation” in Ukraine in February 2022.
According to Kommersant in 2023, Russia was successful in getting 48 defendants extradited to face criminal charges in their native country between January and May.
Eleven of them were deported from nations outside of Moscow’s post-Soviet sphere of influence, which is often referred to as the “far abroad” and includes the United States and the European Union.
Additionally, according to Kommersant, from January to May 2023, 27 Russian petitions for legal help were denied by American and European courts.
23 rejections claimed “political motivations” for the criminal charges of the accused in Russia, with Switzerland accounting for 17 of them.
For instance, according to Swiss judicial authorities, they have “the highest doubts about whether Russia will adhere to guarantees or other international legal obligations in connection with the provided legal assistance.”
The denials were described as “a manifestation of Russophobia” by Russia’s prosecutor general’s office, which added that they represent a “win for international crime.”
Author
