Earlier, after the decision of the Court of Appeal in Bologna on October 27 to consent to extradition, the defense lawyer filed an appeal, alleging serious procedural irregularities. The highest instance sent the case back for reconsideration, but subsequent proceedings did not bring a different result.
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On Wednesday, the Supreme Court upheld the consent to extradite Serhiy K., which means that it will be delivered to Germany in the next few days.
Charges, hunger protest and defense arguments
Serhiy K., former military man, he was detained in August this year near Rimini, where he was on vacation with his family. The arrest was made on the basis of a European extradition warrant. Italy, despite the doubts expressed by the defense lawyer, confirmed its consent to extradition with subsequent decisions. At the end of October, Canestrini's lawyer raised alarm about “serious procedural violations”indicating, among others, to disregard the decision of the Warsaw court, which he refused to hand over to Germany another Ukrainian – Volodymyr Zhuravlov – also suspected in the same case.
The lawyer also emphasized that in Bologna, the issues of functional immunity, the political nature of the charges and the conditions of imprisonment in Germany were not taken into account. He pointed out that his client had limited access to the case files and German prisons may not guarantee appropriate standards. An additional element of Serhiy K.'s drama was the hunger strike, which he went on for 11 days, protesting against the conditions of detention and the diet that was not adapted to his health condition.
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Nord Stream
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Political background of the case of blowing up Nord Stream
According to German media Serhiy K. was allegedly not only a participant, but even an organizer of the sabotage action on Nord Stream. Investigators claim that the group he was supposed to lead rented a yacht in Rostock on the basis of false documents, and then, using divers, planted at least four explosive charges on the gas pipeline. After the operation was completed, the alleged saboteurs were to be transported to Ukraine.
The defense argues that the actions attributed to Serhiy K. were of a political and military nature and resulted from the context of an international armed conflictwhich – according to the lawyer – should exclude them from the scope of the European arrest warrant. Canestrini himself warns that the case is not just about his client, but about the credibility of the European system of judicial cooperation, which he says may be vulnerable to political abuse.
Meanwhile, the decision of the Italian Supreme Court means that after months of disputes, Serhiy K. will face German justice. The trial promises to be one of the most high-profile European sabotage trials in recent decades, and its consequences could reach far beyond the courtroom, touching on security policy and delicate relations between EU states during the war in Ukraine.
