Some EU countries do not extradite terrorism, corruption suspects to Ukraine, but can check safety of their detention here - Prosecutor General
Since the beginning of the full-scale aggression of the Russian Federation, Ukraine has sent about 700 requests for extradition; refusals of a number of European Union countries to extradite suspects, including war crimes, are due to concerns about detention conditions and security in Ukraine, Prosecutor General Andriy Kostin said in an interview with The Guardian.
"Ukraine is pressing up to 10 EU member states to allow the extradition of criminals to the country, including suspects involved with the Wagner group and those accused of large-scale corruption," says an article published on the publication's website on Thursday.
According to The Guardian, the Ukrainian Prosecutor General did not specify the EU member states that are concerned about the conditions of detention of suspects in Ukraine, however, as the publication writes, France, Austria and Finland recently refused to extradite suspects to Ukraine.
Referring to the words of the Prosecutor General, the publication reports that Ukrainian courts have issued about 700 extradition orders since the beginning of the full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine. One of the requests, as noted in the article, concerns the extradition of terrorist suspect Yan Petrovsky, involved in the Wagner PMC, who entered Finland under an assumed name. The court in Finland, as the publication recalls, refused to extradite him. The Guardian also writes that Austria and France recently refused to extradite to Ukraine suspects in the embezzlement of a former bank manager, ex-deputy and businessman.
"Of course we all understand that the decisions on extradition are taken by courts. But we see that some of the countries … are resistant because of their understanding of the conditions of detention, which we are improving. And I will speak about this [to justice ministers]," he said.
Referring to the words of the Prosecutor General of Ukraine, The Guardian writes that countries can ensure that extradited suspects will be kept in central and western Ukraine, away from the front line.
"Conditions [of detention] will be in line with the rules and standards of the European Union and especially the European convention on human rights... Ukraine will invite those states hesitant about extradition to visit the country and see for itself the conditions under which a suspect would be held," he added.
