The Chambéry public prosecutor's office said Thursday that it was in favor of the extradition to his country of the wealthy businessman and former Ukrainian deputy Kostiantin Jevago, his lawyers denouncing on the contrary the risks of sending him back to a country at war.
“
There are no grounds for refusing extradition
”, concluded before the investigating chamber of the Chambéry Court of Appeal, Advocate General Richard Pallain, stressing that a “
part of Ukraine
was not in a situation of “
conflict of intensity
”, which “
would make it possible
” to send Mr Jevago back to his country.
"Ranked Scarlet"
The lawyers of the former deputy - from 1998 to 2019 - highlighted the risks incurred by their client in the event of extradition in a country "classified
scarlet
" by the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs on "
all its territory
".
"
We do not send people back to a war zone
," insisted François Zimeray, while denouncing "
the political nature
" of the request from the Ukrainian authorities.
"
Ukraine is off the judicial track
," he summed up.
The case was adjourned to March 30.
Founder of the mining company Ferrexpo, Mr. Jevago was arrested on December 28 in Courchevel (Savoie).
He is accused of embezzling $113 million from his Finance and Credit Bank.
“
I believe in French justice and I hope that you will hear the arguments of my lawyers
”, declared at the end of the hearing Mr. Jevago, who appeared free but under judicial supervision.
As a deputy, he sometimes sat as an independent, sometimes in the camp of former Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko.
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