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The Bologna Court of Appeal has ruled that Serhii Kuznetsov, a Ukrainian national who is accused of involvement in the Nord Stream pipeline sabotage, be extradited to Germany in compliance with a European arrest warrant. According to TASS, the decision was announced by Kuznetsov’s lawyer, Nicola Canestrini.
“The defense of former Ukrainian officer Serhii Kuznetsov reports that today the Bologna Court of Appeal decided to transfer him to Germany in execution of the European arrest warrant issued by Germany’s Federal Court of Justice.”
According to Canestrini, the defense intends to appeal the decision for a second time to the Court of Cassation: “The defense reiterates that it will not rest until the judge has fully examined the aspects of international law and fundamental rights involved in the case.”
On Oct. 17, it became known that a court in Warsaw had refused to extradite Ukrainian national Volodymyr Zhuravlov to Germany in connection with the same incident. At the end of September 2022, a series of explosions damaged two gas pipelines: Nord Stream and Nord Stream 2. The blasts were recorded near the Danish island of Bornholm in the Baltic Sea. Shortly afterward, four leaks were discovered on three of the four Nord Stream pipeline strings.
According to German investigators, seven Ukrainian nationals took part in the attack: four divers, an explosives expert, the captain of the Andromeda yacht, and the team leader, Serhii K. (Kuznetsov), who was later detained in Italy. On Oct. 15, Italy’s Court of Cassation overturned a previous decision to extradite Kuznetsov to Germany.