European Parliament asks European Commission to ban extradition to Russia

This was reported by Euractiv with reference to the letter of the member of the European Parliament from Bulgaria, Radan Kanev, to the President of the European Parliament, Roberta Metsola.

The move is aimed at preventing the extradition to Russia of Aleksey Alchyn, a Russian citizen who burned his passport in Bulgaria to protest the war in Ukraine. He will probably be extradited to his country of origin by a Bulgarian court decision.

"All the guarantees provided by the Russian Federation in matters of human rights are nothing more than empty declarations. Any citizen of Russia who participates in open anti-war and opposition activities is threatened not only with torture, humiliation, and inhumane treatment, but also with an effective, if not officially pronounced, death sentence", Kanev wrote in a letter to the President of the European Parliament, Roberta Metsola.

The deputy called on the Commission to make a clear recommendation to all member states to suspend all current and future extradition procedures for Russian citizens, especially in cases where these citizens oppose the regime in the Kremlin.

The initiative is currently collecting signatures among members of the European Parliament.

Russia demanded the extradition of Alchyn to his homeland in connection with the investigation of tax fraud. Alchyn and his wife Olga Gyurova are convinced that the Russian request is politically motivated.