The Milan Court of Appeal has refused to extradite Ukrainian opposition politician Viktor Romaniuk, who is charged with embezzlement, to Ukraine, the Ukrainska Pravda Internet publication has reported.

"The Court of Appeal of Milan has refused to extradite me... The court has found no crime in the documents provided by the Prosecutor General's Office of Ukraine... It has recognized the case against me as politically motivated, and from the documents provided by the Prosecutor General's Office, the court concluded that there was no crime at all! Thus, it has confirmed that everything was fabricated," Romaniuk told the publication.

Romaniuk, a member of the Batkivschyna Party, ran for parliament in 2012 in single-seat constituency No. 94 (Kyiv region). He defeated Tetiana Zasukha of the Party of Regions, with a margin of nearly 10,000 votes. But following rulings by the Vasylkiv and Obukhiv district courts, the district electoral commission declared 33,000 votes invalid and declared Zasukha the winner.

Romaniuk was put on the international wanted list on February 28 in connection with the opening of criminal proceedings under Part 5, Article 191 (property embezzlement through abuse of office) of the Criminal Code.

On March 22, he was detained in Milan, Italy.

On March 26, Shevchenkivsky District Court of Kyiv chose custody as a preventive measure against the politician.

On March 27, a court in Milan started the hearing on choosing a preventive measure against Romaniuk before deciding on his extradition to Ukraine.

On March 29, he was freed from an Italian prison.

Romaniuk said he planned to participate in the repeat election in his constituency No. 94 and was not going to request political asylum.