Austrian Justice Minister greenlights extradition of Firtash to US

As an Ukrinform correspondent reports from Austria, the extradition has been postponed as the businessman’s lawyers filed the motion to reopen the extradition proceedings.

The Austrian radio station Österreich 1 was the first to inform about the decision on the extradition of Firtash on Tuesday morning. As noted, the decision of the Austrian Justice Minister on approval of the extradition of the Ukrainian oligarch to the United States was handed over to his lawyers on Monday morning. However, already in the afternoon, the court in Vienna suspended the extradition of the businessman until delivery of judgment on a motion to reopen the extradition proceedings, which had been filed by Firtash at the end of June.

Thus, Firtash may be extradited to the US only after the court rules on the corresponding motion.

On June 26, a panel of the Austrian Supreme Court judges approved the possibility of extraditing Ukrainian oligarch Dmytro Firtash to the United States, upholding the ruling of the Supreme Court in Vienna.

The final decision on the extradition of Firtash to the United States was to be taken by the Justice Minister of Austria.

The trial in the case of the extradition of the Group DF’s owner to the United States has been lasting since 2014.

Firtash was detained in the capital of Austria on March 12, 2014 at the request of the US Department of Justice. The Department charged the Ukrainian oligarch with bribing the Indian officials to obtain a permit for the extraction of titanium raw material in India. The finished products were then planned to be sold at the Boeing company headquartered in Chicago (USA).

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