Mykola Melnychenko will stay at Naples prison for migrants

KYIV, August 7 /UKRINFORM/. The Naples court failed to take a final decision on extradition of former Major of the State Guard Department Mykola Melnychenko, detained at the city airport on Friday.

Melnychenko's lawyer Mykola Nedilko has said about this, the BBC reports.

“Due to the fact that Melnychenko refused with reason from extradition to Ukraine, the court sitting was stopped so that over 10 days, the Italian Justice Ministry either agrees or does not agree with his position,” the lawyer has said.

According to him, the ex-Major completely refused from the forced return to Ukraine, explaining this by the threat to his life. Now, provided that the Italian Justice Ministry agrees with Melnychenko's arguments, the court will have to release him from prison. If the Justice Ministry does not agree with the ex-Major position, the court sitting on the case will continue.

The lawyer also admits that the court may decide to send the ex-Major to the U.S., since the Witness Protection Program is in effect for him and his family members on the PACE instruction within the framework of the criminal case, instituted on the basis of the murder of journalist Georgy Gongadze.

The defense lawyer added that Melnychenko's state of health is “relatively normal,” following the court sitting he was brought back to the prison for migrants in Naples.

To remind, former Major of the State Guard Department is suspected of abuse of authority, divulgation of the state secret and creation of the “artificial prosecution evidence.” He was put on the wanted list on September 23, 2011.

On August 3, Melnychenko was detained at Naples airport on an order from the Ukrainian Interpol Bureau. He arrived in Naples by a flight from Washington.

LK