Under pressure from public opinion and the media, a Bulgarian court of appeal surprisingly overturned an earlier ruling on Thursday (25 August) and refused the extradition to Moscow of a Russian national who had burned his passport in Bulgaria in protest against the war in Ukraine.
Given Bulgaria’s previous record of easily extraditing critics to authoritarian regimes, this ruling is rather surprising.
Russian national Alexey Alchin, who has been living in Varna for eight years and runs a stable business in Bulgaria, protested against Putin’s war in Ukraine by publicly burning his Russian passport on 24 February, two days after the beginning of the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
Immediately afterwards, the authorities in Russia filed a case against him for large-scale tax evasion. Moscow requested the man’s extradition and the Bulgarian prosecutor’s office quickly moved the case to court.
Alchin and his wife, Olga Gyurova, maintain that the Russian request is politically motivated.
In early August, the Varna District Court ruled that Alchin should be handed over to Vladimir Putin’s regime. Alchin was kept in custody, and the final decision of the Appellate Court was widely expected to confirm the ruling of the first instance.
However, on Thursday, the court overturned the ruling. The decision followed large-scale public protests against Alchin’s extradition in Sofia, Varna and other Bulgarian cities, as well as publicity in the Western press. The Court of Appeal’s motives are yet to be announced.
Possible extradition of Russian national from Bulgaria raises eyebrows
A Russian national who burned his passport in Bulgaria in protest against the war in Ukraine is likely to be extradited to his country of origin after a decision of a Bulgarian court.
A Bulgarian judge told EURACTIV following the initial court ruling that she was not surprised by the decision of the Varna district court, because, in her words “Bulgarian courts work on the basis of documents, not on assumptions”.
In her opinion, the documents provided by the Russian embassy, charging Alchin with tax evasion, were sufficient to justify the extradition.
Asked if the motives of Russia to get hold of Alchin were political, she repeated that the Bulgarian courts do not work based on assumptions.
Bulgarian extraditions
Bulgaria has a record of extraditing critics to authoritarian regimes, including to neighbouring Turkey.
Bulgarian MEP Radan Kanev (EPP/DB) launched in August an initiative for the European Commission to issue a clear recommendation to EU member states to stop all procedures for extradition of Russian citizens from EU countries to Russia.
“All guarantees provided by the Russian Federation on human rights issues are nothing more than empty declarations, and any Russian citizen participating in open anti-war and opposition activities is not only at risk of torture, humiliation and inhumane treatment, but is even threatened with an effective, albeit not officially pronounced, death sentence”, commented Kanev, when launching the initiative.
The lawmaker called on the Commission to issue a clear recommendation to all member states to suspend all pending and future extradition procedures for citizens of Russia, especially in cases where these citizens oppose the regime in the Kremlin.
The initiative can gather support from MEPs until 1 September.
Asked by EURACTIV to comment on the court of appeal decision, Kanev said on Thursday:
“It’s good that one person was saved. The extradition of Mr. Alchin would have created a huge image problem for our country, but the fundamental risk remains. There are similar problems in other member states.”
MEP asks Commission to ban extraditions to Russia
Bulgarian MEP Radan Kanev (EPP) called on Wednesday (17 August) for the European Commission to issue a clear recommendation to EU member states to stop all procedures for extradition of Russian citizens from the EU to Russia.
[Edited by Zoran Radosavljevic]
Source: euractiv.com
