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Poland general prosecutor asks to extradite RF former prosecutor

The Polish Prosecutor General’s Office has made recommendations to the republican Justice Ministry

MOSCOW, April 2 (Itar-Tass) —— The Polish Prosecutor General’s Office has made recommendations to the republican Justice Ministry to extradite to Russia the former deputy prosecutor in the Moscow Region Alexander Ignatenko, who was detained in southern Poland on January 1, press secretary of the Polish Prosecutor General’s Office Mateus Martenuk told the Rossiiskaya Gazeta daily. The Polish authorities did not make an official statement on the issue.

“Last Friday Polish Prosecutor General Andrzej Seremet submitted his recommendation to the Justice Ministry to extradite Ignatenko to the Russian authorities. Now the minister should consider this request and agree on it or make his own decision,” the newspaper quoted Martenuk as saying. “The justice minister will sooner take a political decision,” he pointed out.

On March 7, the Court of Appeal in Cracow has made the final verdict in the Alexander Ignatenko criminal case that the latter is to be extradited to Moscow. According to Polish procedural rules, Justice Minister Jaroslaw Gowin is to take a final decision in this case. Meanwhile, the Polish Prosecutor General’s Office submitted in the ministry a relevant request with the well-grounded recommendation, which the minister will approve or not. In case of disapproval the former deputy prosecutor in the Moscow Region will be released from custody immediately. The approval will make it possible to launch the extradition procedure.

The Polish Justice Ministry did not report how much time the making of a decision will take for the minister. Formally the minister has a deadline until June 8, because the court extended the term in arrest for Ignatenko until this date before the extradition.

The former first deputy prosecutor in the Moscow Region Alexander Ignatenko, 52, is a defendant in the criminal case over covering up an illegal gambling ring in the Moscow Region. He was put on the Interpol wanted list for fraud and taking bribes to the tune of 47 million roubles from suspected masterminds of the gambling ring. In the evening on January 1, Alexander Ignatenko was detained by Polish security officers at the entry to the resort city of Zakopane, where he arrived for a few days to meet with his family.