The Prosecutor General’s Office reported 32 refusals of Russia to receive legal assistance from other countries

From January to September 2023, Russia received 32 refusals from other countries in international legal cooperation, in 28 cases the decision was made for political reasons. About it reports “Kommersant” with reference to the Prosecutor General’s Office of the Russian Federation.

As the department noted, Switzerland most often refused legal assistance to Russia (22 times). The Swiss Federal Office of Justice informed the Russian Embassy in Bern that it was suspending this process because the Swiss justice has “the highest doubts that Russia will adhere to guarantees or other international legal obligations in connection with the legal assistance provided.”

Latvia rejected four more requests. The Latvian Prosecutor General’s Office explained the decision in criminal cases related to fraud on an especially large scale and incitement of hatred and enmity to the political persecution of their defendants. The refusal to provide assistance in the case of bringing a obviously innocent person to criminal liability and illegal detention there was motivated by the possibility of harming the sovereignty of Latvia.

The Principality of Liechtenstein rejected Russia’s request for assistance in connection with the criminal case of theft of assets of JSCB Probusinessbank OJSC. Authorities also cited a political motive for pursuing the defendants. The US Department of Justice cited the possibility of harming US sovereignty as the reason for refusing assistance in a criminal case for crimes related to the organization of an illegal armed group and an encroachment on the life of a law enforcement officer.

Since January, Russia has also failed to extradite 85 defendants for prosecution or execution. The Prosecutor General’s Office claims that in 27 cases decisions to refuse were made for political reasons. In five situations the Czech Republic referred to them. Also, four refusals each occurred in Poland and Austria, three each in Germany and Italy.

The Russian department noted that Bulgaria, Greece, Italy, Romania, Montenegro, the Czech Republic and in four cases Hungary unmotivatedly refused to extradite defendants in criminal cases to Russia. They added that these decisions are related to Russophobia due to the special operation in Ukraine and pointed to a contradiction with the obligations of the parties under the European Convention on Extradition of 1957 and the principle of reciprocity.

At the same time, Russia continues international legal cooperation with a number of other countries. In total, since the beginning of 2023, 111 accused have been extradited to the Russian Federation, of which 37 are from “far abroad” countries. The latter countries complied with 162 of 248 requests for legal assistance. Third countries are used for the transit of defendants, most often Turkey (11 requests for transit have been satisfied since the beginning of the year).