Italian court denies Ukrainian request to extradite opposition candidate

An appellate court in Italy ruled on July 15 to reject the Ukrainian government’s request to extradite Viktor Romaniuk, a businessman who faced criminal charges filed by the Ukrainian government in February for the alleged misappropriation of USD 5 mln from a business. The court found no basis for prosecuting him in its review. Romaniuk was an opposition candidate in one of the five election districts that couldn’t establish results in the October parliamentary elections, which face a revote this year as a demand set by the European Union (EU) for signing the Association Agreement with the Ukrainian government.

Zenon Zawada: The Italian court’s ruling was expected and essentially confirmed a political motivation in the criminal charges, as Romaniuk’s press service duly noted. Such charges against an opposition candidate are among the numerous violations to Western values that harm Ukraine’s prospects for signing the Association Agreement. The Ukrainian government will have to allow Romaniuk to compete freely and fairly in order to meet the EU expectations. Politicians with Romaniuk’s Fatherland party confirmed that he will be the opposition’s only candidate in the revote to determine the MP to represent his election district.