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Ukraine postpones felon extradition to Russia by ECHR recommendation

The European Court of Human Rights requested case documents from Ukraine
Photo EPA/ITAR-TASS
Photo EPA/ITAR-TASS

KIEV, August 21 (Itar-Tass) — Ukraine has paused the extradition of Adam Osmayev suspected by Russia of preparing an attempt upon President Vladimir Putin by recommendation of the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR), Ukrainian Prosecutor General’s Office press secretary Margarita Belkova told Itar-Tass on Tuesday.

“The Osmayev defense appealed the ruling of the Odessa Appeals Court, which ordered the extradition, at the European Court of Human Rights. The ECHR requested case documents from Ukraine and recommended suspending the extradition process for a while,” she said.

The Odessa Appeals Court declined the appeal of the Osmayev defense and decided to extradite the suspect to Russia on August 14. The Moscow Lefortovo District Court authorized the arrest of Osmayev in March. In the opinion of Ukrainian and Russian law enforcers, Osmayev led the Odessa organization of the Imarat Caucasus terrorist organization, which also included Kazakhstan citizen Ilya Pyanzin and Ruslan Madayev from Chechnya.

Russia appealed to the Ukrainian Prosecutor General’s Office in May for the extradition of suspects it wanted for a number of felonies. The Ukrainian Prosecutor General’s Office raised no objections, but the Adam Osmayev defense appealed to the Odessa Malinovsky District Court. The court confirmed the legality of the extradition on August 3. The defense appealed the ruling.

Detectives said that Osmayev and his two accomplices hiding from Russia’s Federal Security Service stealthily came to Ukraine and rented an apartment. They were making explosives while hiding. An explosion occurred in the rented apartment in January 2012, and a fire started. One of the accomplices, Ruslan Madayev, died in the fire, and the other, Kazakh citizen Ilya Pyanzin, was taken to the hospital’s intensive care unit with burns. He told the police they were planning terror attacks in Russia. Osmayev was injured but managed to escape. He was caught only on February 4.

He told the investigators they were experimenting with explosives but denied working for the Imarat Caucasus terrorist organization and planning an attack on Putin.