The Court of Appeal accepted an appeal filed by the Attorney General, George Savvides, last Thursday, based on which the conditions for the extradition of a Russian-German citizen (the suspect) to the USA are met, to stand trial there for seven offenses allegedly committed between February 2022 and August 2023.
The Russian-German citizen is accused of being involved in the supply, from the USA, of electronic components and other materials without a license, intending for these to be sold to a specific sector of the Russian industry, falsely representing that said components were intended for commercial use in markets of other countries, including Cyprus.
In a statement, the Legal Service states that initially, the lower court rejected the extradition request of the suspect, accepting his argument that due to his German citizenship, he cannot be extradited to a state outside the EU without prior notification of the German authorities. The Legal Service appealed against the decision of the lower court.
The Court of Appeal, accepting the appeal of the Legal Service, agreed with the Attorney General of the Republic that the lower court mistakenly considered that the Petruhhin doctrine applies in this case.
According to the European Court of Justice, the Petruhhin doctrine imposes special obligations in cases of EU Member States that do not extradite their citizens to other states when they receive a request for extradition from a third country for the prosecution of an EU citizen who is a national of another state and has exercised his right to free movement within the EU according to the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union.
The Republic of Cyprus, based on the principle of reciprocity provided for in the Constitution, allows the extradition of its citizens.
Similarly, according to the Court of Appeal, the Petruhhin doctrine is not activated in this specific case, as the extradition of Cypriot citizens to the USA is permitted, since, according to relevant evidence submitted, the USA extradites its citizens even to countries that do not extradite their own citizens to the USA.
Furthermore, the Court of Appeal rejected the counter-appeal of the suspect, in which he argued that the offenses for which he is prosecuted fall within the concept of political offenses, therefore his extradition should not be allowed. According to the Court of Appeal, what is covered by the exception of political offenses is political unrest within a country’s territory.
According to the position of the Legal Service, which the Court of Appeal accepted, the invocation of this argument by the suspect is not substantiated since the political disturbance does not occur within the USA, but is related to the war between Russia and Ukraine. That is, outside the territory of the requesting state (USA).
On behalf of the Attorney General, the case was handled by the Prosecutor of the Republic, Marina Spiliotopoulou, and the Advocate of the Republic, Efstathios Erotokritou.
