Polish court refuses to extradite suspect in joint venture bombing to Germany

A Polish court has blocked the extradition to Germany of Ukrainian Vladimir Zhuravlev, who is suspected of blowing up the Nord Stream 1 and Nord Stream 2 pipelines. This was reported by the Associated Press (AP) on October 17.

"On Friday, the Warsaw District Court rejected his extradition and ordered his immediate release," the publication says.

According to the agency, before the hearing, the lawyer of the defendant, Timotheus Paprotsky, told the court that his defendant did not admit guilt and had not committed any crimes against Germany. According to the lawyer, he does not understand why the charges of the terrorist attack were brought by Germany. He stated that "no Ukrainian should be accused of any actions directed against Russia."

Pipeline situation: damage to Germany from the explosion of the Nord Streams exceeds 160 billion euros

While Berlin is hiding the results of the sabotage investigation, the Russian Foreign Ministry is preparing an appeal to the UN International Court of Justice in the case of terrorist attacks.

On October 13, Polish Defense Minister Vladislav Kosinyak-Kamysh said that the extradition of Vladimir Zhuravlev, a defendant in the case of the Nord Stream gas pipeline bombing, to Germany was not in line with the country's national interests. He noted that the decision to transfer a Ukrainian citizen to foreign authorities should take into account not only diplomatic obligations, but also Poland's internal security.

On October 1, a Polish court arrested a Ukrainian diver wanted by Germany, who is suspected of involvement in the explosions on the Nord Stream gas pipeline. According to the judges' decision, the defendant must be held in custody until the issue of his transfer to Germany is resolved.

On September 30, the German Prosecutor General's Office announced the detention in Poland of a Ukrainian citizen who took part in the explosion at Nord Streams. It was stated that the trained diver was part of a group of individuals who placed explosive devices on the Nord Stream 1 and Nord Stream 2 gas pipelines near Bornholm Island in September 2022.

On October 6, it was reported that a court in Poland extended the arrest of the suspect for 40 days. According to reports, 49-year-old Zhuravlev claims that he had nothing to do with the attack and that he was in Ukraine at the time of its commission.

All important news is on the Izvestia channel in the MAX messenger.