A Ukrainian man has won an appeal against an Italian court's decision in September to extradite him to Germany in the case of sabotage of the Nord Stream 1 and 2 gas pipelines, Italy's Supreme Court said, Reuters reports.
According to the man's lawyer, Nicola Canestrini, the order to extradite the Ukrainian has been annulled and the case must be retried. The lawyer states this in a written statement to Ritzau.
- In light of today's decision, I will assess in the coming days whether there are grounds to request my client's release, as the legal basis for his detention has now lapsed, he writes.
According to the lawyer, the suspect had not had the opportunity to participate fully in his own trial, which according to Canestrini was a breach of the guarantee of a fair trial.
- This decision confirms that even within the framework of European judicial cooperation, fundamental rights and guarantees of a fair trial must never give way to the so-called "interest of the state", he writes and adds:
- Neither efficiency nor political expediency can justify interference with the right to a fair trial.
The German prosecutor's office stated in August that the Ukrainian man had been arrested by Italian police.
He has been referred to by German police under the name "Serhii K.". The Ukrainian man was arrested near the Italian city of Rimini on the basis of a European arrest warrant. The man is suspected of having coordinated sabotage against the two pipelines connecting Germany and Russia.
He and a group of other people planted explosive devices on the two pipelines near Bornholm, according to a previous statement from the prosecutor's office according to AFP.
The two gas pipelines Nord Stream 1 and 2 run near Bornholm. The suspected sabotage took place on September 26, 2022.
According to Reuters, the man is believed to have helped coordinate three attacks on Nord Stream pipelines in the Baltic Sea.
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