The court of the French town of Chambery held a meeting on the extradition of a businessman and former deputy, president of the Poltava “Vorskla” Konstantin Zhevago from France to Ukraine.
The meeting, which lasted about two hours, began with a question to Konstantin Zhevago – does he agree to extradition? To which he replied in the negative. He came to court with three of his Parisian lawyers, who said that Ukraine cannot guarantee a fair trial under martial law, and is also unable to ensure the safety of Konstantin Zhevago at a time when the entire territory of the country is under regular bombing by the Russian army.
Prosecutor Richard PaleHe stated that he did not see any motive for refusing extradition, because Ukraine respects European laws and improves its legislation in this direction. The prosecutor also noted that everyone is equal before the court, regardless of their status, and statements about the political motivation of the persecution of Konstantin Zhevago are an attempt to single out this case, and there are no grounds for this. In addition, the prosecutor said that he did not see a threat to the life of Konstantin Zhevago, because the main military events in Ukraine are taking place in the Donbass, and in the other territory of Ukraine, according to the prosecutor, there is no risk.
The judge listened to both sides and stated that the decision would be announced on March 30.
Konstantin Zhevago: “I believe in French justice. My legal team has presented all of our arguments and we are now awaiting a decision. If we do not agree with him, we will file an appeal, but, I repeat, I do not doubt the fairness of the French court.”
Konstantin Zhevago was detained on December 27 at a ski resort in Courchevel at the request of the Ukrainian authorities. The former deputy of the Verkhovna Rada is suspected of embezzling $113 million from the Finance and Credit Bank, which caused damage to his depositors and the interests of states. Bank Finance and Credit went bankrupt in 2015.
At a hearing on January 5, a court in the French town of Chambéry agreed to release Konstantin Zhevago on bail of 1 million euros. Now Konstantin Zhevago lives in Paris without the right to leave the territory of France.
