Home News Polish judge refuses Nord Stream extradition, blasts suspect for ‘just behave’

Polish judge refuses Nord Stream extradition, blasts suspect for ‘just behave’

Polish judge refuses Nord Stream extradition, blasts suspect for ‘just behave’

Sarah RainsfordWarsaw Southern and Eastern European Correspondent

Omar Marquez/Getty Images

Volodymyr Zhuravlyov was released after the judge handed down his sentence.

A Polish judge has refused to extradite a Ukrainian citizen accused by Germany of sabotaging the Nord Stream gas pipeline in September 2022. He insisted that if Ukraine was responsible for the attack, it was a “justified” act.

Volodymyr Zuravlev, who was taken to the Warsaw District Court in handcuffs, was detained in Poland last month under a European arrest warrant.

Judge Dariusz Lubowski ordered his release after sentencing, leaving the crowd in the courtroom stunned and the man in the dock smiling.

Zhuravlyov, along with others, is accused of planting explosives deep in the Baltic Sea on a pipeline running from Russia to Germany.

Blame for the explosion, which crippled a long-disputed energy supply line from Russia to Germany, was initially focused on Moscow until signs of Ukraine’s involvement began to emerge.

Officials in Kyiv have repeatedly denied any role.

Extradition cases within the EU are usually quick and straightforward, but the Nord Stream case has proven very different.

Donald Tusk, the prime minister of Poland, a key ally of war-torn Ukraine, immediately posted on X that the verdict was correct.

“Case closed,” he wrote.

In Warsaw’s huge district court, Judge Lubowski announced his decision to the suspect, his family, legal team and a large cluster of television cameras.

In a long and impassioned speech, he said that he was only considering the request to send Zuravlev to Germany, not the substance of the case itself. But he made it clear that the context of the war in Ukraine is very important.

The judge described Russia’s invasion as a “bloody and genocidal attack” and cited Aristotle and St. Thomas Aquinas to argue that Ukraine had a legal right to defend itself.

“If Ukraine and its special forces had organized an armed mission to destroy enemy pipelines (although the court did not foresee this), these actions would not have been unlawful.

“On the contrary, they were just, reasonable and fair,” he told the court.

BBC/Sarah Rainsford

Zhuravlyov’s wife, Yulianna, said it was important to hear the judge understand the Ukrainian people.

He said the attack cost the enemy billions of euros that Germany had paid for gas supplies… He said Russia’s military potential has been weakened.

The judge said what might be considered terrorism or sabotage in peacetime is different in wartime.

In fact, Germany suspended use of two Nord Stream 1 pipelines after Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, and Nord Stream 2 has not yet entered service.

Poland has always been a vocal critic of projects that make Berlin too dependent on Moscow. This route deprived Poland of gas transportation costs. Ukraine and the United States have also long opposed the pipeline.

But Judge Lubowski insisted his ruling was a legal one, not an emotional or political one.

He also questioned whether Germany had jurisdiction to bring the case because the explosion occurred on the high seas on a majority-Russian state-owned pipeline.

He announced that Zuravlev would be released from detention and said the Ukrainian would also receive compensation from the Polish government.

“I’m happy… it’s been a really difficult three weeks,” Zuravlev’s wife Yuliana told the BBC in court after the judge’s ruling.

“For me, as a Ukrainian, it was very important to hear that he understands us.”

She said the family plans to stay in Poland from February 2022.

She previously described her husband’s arrest at his home outside Warsaw and said he had never been involved in sabotage.

Volodymyr Zhuravlyov is a deep-sea diver, his wife confirmed, but she calls it a hobby and says he has no military role.

He runs an air conditioning installation business in Poland. Mrs Zhuravlyova could not tell the BBC exactly where her husband was when three of the four Nord Stream pipelines blew up. Because no one asked her to confirm.

He is not the only suspect on Germany’s list. Last August, another Ukrainian man was detained in Italy while on vacation.

Serhiy Kuznetsov was also charged with “unconstitutional acts of destruction” and denied any connection to the explosion. He is currently imprisoned in a maximum security prison in northern Italy.

A Bologna court ruled he should be extradited to Berlin, but earlier this week Rome’s highest appeal court annulled that ruling and the case was sent back to Bologna to begin again.

Asked about the decision, Germany’s foreign minister said he respected the ruling and that it was not the government’s business to interfere with the court.

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