In Italy, the cassation court cancelled the decision to extradite to Germany a citizen of Ukraine, who is suspected of coordinating the undermining of the Nord Stream gas pipelines in the Baltic Sea in September 2022, writes the ANSA news agency.
The case will be reviewed by a new panel.
At the hearing, the Prosecutor General’s Office asked to uphold one of the grounds of appeal filed by the defence, arguing that the European arrest warrant had mischaracterised the facts.
The court of cassation, Italy’s highest court, upheld the defence argument that there had been a “mischaracterisation of the facts underlying the European arrest warrant,” said lawyer Nicola Canestrini, quoted by Reuters.
The suspect appears in court documents under the name Sergei K. The media quoted his probable surname as Kuznetsov.
The Italian court decided on 16 September to extradite him to Germany.
Sergei K. became the first person arrested in the case of undermining Nord Streams. In Germany, he was charged with a number of offences, including the article on terrorist act. He did not admit guilt in court.
According to the arrest warrant, the suspect was part of a group of people who planted explosive devices on the Nord Stream-1 and Nord Stream-2 pipelines near the island of Bornholm in the Baltic Sea in September 2022, and was probably one of the coordinators of the operation.
According to the German prosecutor’s office, the suspect and his alleged accomplices used a sailing yacht rented from a German company through intermediaries using forged documents.
About his detention in Poland on suspicion of involvement in the undermining of “Nord Stream” another Ukrainian became known at the end of September. The issue of his extradition is now being resolved. Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk said that Warsaw was not interested in extraditing the Ukrainian, whose extradition was sought by Germany.
The explosive device went off on 26 September 2022. As a result of the explosions, both gas pipelines were seriously damaged – three out of four strings were destroyed.
The pipeline was being built to supply Russian gas to Western Europe. The pipeline cannot be repaired. Investigations by Sweden, Denmark and Germany have shown that the pipelines were blown up, but the culprits are still being identified.
Russia is not taking part in the investigation. Moscow held the US and its allies responsible for the incident. They deny their involvement.
Numerous Western mass media reported that the explosions were organised by people linked to the Ukrainian security services. Kiev denies accusations of organising sabotage.
The German prosecutor’s office emphasised that this was a serious attack on Germany’s energy infrastructure – regardless of the political motives of those who carried out the bombing.
The Nord Stream gas pipelines came under EU sanctions this year, as EU countries recognised them as a potential tool of Moscow’s pressure on Europe.