Italy to extradite pipeline blast suspect to Germany

Italy’s prime appeals courtroom has dominated {that a} Ukrainian man suspected of involvement in blowing up the Nord Stream gasoline pipelines between Russia and Germany ought to be extradited to Berlin.

There, former Ukrainian army officer Serhiy Kuznetsov will face a cost of anti-constitutional sabotage. He is because of be faraway from Italy beneath German police escort within the subsequent few days.

Prosecutors consider Mr Kuznetsov coordinated and led a gaggle that planted explosives on the pipes deep beneath the Baltic Sea in 2022, although they haven’t disclosed any proof.

The case has severe implications for relations between Ukraine and Germany, which is the most important supply of army support for Kyiv in Europe.

Mr Kuznetsov’s lawyer mentioned his shopper “looks like a scapegoat” and is “very unhappy” that his authorities has not spoken out in his defence, and even confirmed that he was a serving soldier on the time of the blasts.

“If he carried out the assault, then he did so as a result of he was ordered to take action as a result of he was for positive a captain of the Ukrainian military,” Nicola Canestrini mentioned after Wednesday’s listening to.

The BBC has seen a replica of Mr Kuznetsov’s army ID among the many courtroom papers. He has not commented publicly on whether or not he was concerned within the explosions.

“The Ukrainian authorities is aware of precisely the place he was each day of September 2022,” his lawyer mentioned. “So, if he is harmless, why do not they are saying it? If he did it, why do not they are saying it? That is his query.”

The BBC has approached authorities and safety sources in Kyiv, however they haven’t commented.

Mr Kuznetsov was arrested in northern Italy in late August, at a glamping web site close to town of Rimini the place he had booked in for a number of nights together with his spouse and two of their youngsters.

His passport particulars have been entered on-line at check-in, and in Italy that data is routinely transferred to the carabinieri, the native police.

Later that night time, officers got here knocking on the household’s door.

A month later, a second Ukrainian suspect was detained at his house near Poland’s capital Warsaw on one other arrest warrant issued by Germany.

Volodymyr Zhuravlyov, an beginner deep-sea diver, has lived in Poland together with his household since simply earlier than Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022.

He was held in custody for 17 days, however a courtroom then refused to extradite him.

The decide delivered a passionate speech, arguing that no Ukrainian may very well be prosecuted for what he characterised as a professional act of self-defence in opposition to Russia’s “bloody and genocidal” invasion of Ukraine.

In Italy, farther from Ukraine, the temper and the politics are very totally different.

Mr Canestrini described the Italian attraction courtroom’s ruling as a “nice disappointment”, however mentioned the combat for his shopper would now transfer to Germany – with the purpose of getting Mr Kuznetsov acquitted on the identical grounds.

Many Ukrainians contemplate whoever did destroy Nord Stream to be heroes for taking out an necessary income supply for Russia, and battle to grasp why Germany – a key ally of Ukraine – is pursuing this prosecution.

On Wednesday, one man stood exterior the palatial courthouse in Rome wrapped in a Ukrainian flag and holding a poster that learn: “Serhiy Kuznetsov is a defender, not a prison.”