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Polish justice minister backs businessman’s extradition to Russia

The Warsaw district court has twice announced a verdict on Chernyakov’s extradition to Russia, however, new case files continue emerging forcing the court to consider new circumstances

A sign at the entrance to the Russian embassy in Warsaw Alexei Vitvitsky/TASS

A sign at the entrance to the Russian embassy in Warsaw

© Alexei Vitvitsky/TASS

WARSAW, October 21. /TASS/. Polish Justice Minister Zbigniew Ziobro has decided to extradite Russian citizen Andrei Chernyakov, who is charged with a large-scale embezzlement, although trial in the Warsaw court is still underway, the press service of the district court said on Monday.

"The Justice Minister handed down a decision on Andrei Chernyakov’s extradition to Russia," the press service said, recalling that in August the court extended the Russian citizen’s custody until December 15, 2019.

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Polish court approves extradition of suspect in Siberian mall tragedy

The Warsaw district court has twice announced a verdict on Chernyakov’s extradition to Russia. However, new case files continue emerging in this case forcing the court to consider new circumstances.

On October 22, the court is scheduled to hold another meeting on Chernyakov’s case.

Chernyakov is a former head of a large construction company Cosmos (Kosmos), which specialized in transport infrastructure. He was charged with siphoning off 11 bln rubles ($172.6 mln), which he received as a loan back in 2011 for building a tunnel in Moscow. He failed to pay back this loan. Later, the businessman was put on Interpol’s international wanted list. In December 2017, Chernyakov was detained by Polish border guards upon an international warrant at Warsaw’s airport. He was planning to flee to Kiev and showed a fake Romanian passport at the border control.

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