Ukrainian suspected of attack on Nord Stream. The Italian Supreme Court blocked its transfer to Germany

On Wednesday, the Italian Supreme Court overturned the decision of the appeals court, which decided to hand over to the German justice the Ukrainian Serhiy K., suspected of the attack on the Nord Stream gas pipeline in 2022. Germany wants to try him for this. The highest court in Rome sent the case back for reconsideration.

After the appeals court in Bologna agreed to hand over the Ukrainian citizen to the German side in September, his lawyer announced he would appeal against this decision in the Supreme Court of Cassation.

Serhiy K. was arrested in August this year in a town near Rimini in northern Italy, where he was on vacation with his family.

The 49-year-old Ukrainian claims that he had nothing to do with the attack and that he was in Ukraine at the time it occurred.

The man's lawyer announced that he would file an appeal to the Supreme Court and argued that his client's fundamental rights had been violated, including a fair trial and decent conditions of detention.

– These rights cannot be sacrificed in the name of automatic judicial cooperation – said the Ukrainian's lawyer.

The media previously reported that Serhiy K. was to be the organizer of the attack on Nord Stream, and not – as was believed – just one of the coordinators.

According to the German prosecutor's office, the Ukrainian and his companions used a yacht that sailed from the port of Rostock for their operation. They rented it in Germany on the basis of false identity documents and with the help of intermediaries.

Investigators claim that divers attached at least four explosives to the threads of the Nord Stream gas pipeline. Later, they were to be picked up by the driver and taken to Ukraine.

From Rome Sylwia Wysocka (PAP)

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