By Marek Strzelecki and Anna Koper
WARSAW (Reuters) – A Polish court on Friday ruled against the handover of a Ukrainian suspect wanted by Germany in connection with the 2022 Nord Stream gas pipeline explosions and ordered his immediate release.
Although Warsaw had said the decision on whether Volodymyr Z. should be transferred to Germany rested solely with the courts, Prime Minister Donald Tusk said earlier this month that handing him over was not in Poland’s interest.
Tusk said the problem was not that the undersea pipelines, which run from Russia to Germany, were blown up in September 2022, but that they were built.
“The prosecuted person, if he was the perpetrator, is entitled to functional immunity, which covers an act committed in connection with his activities for the Ukrainian state,” Judge Dariusz Lubowski said in his verdict ruling that the German lawsuit was not admissible.
“If Ukraine was really the organizer of this act of aggression, then only Ukraine can be held responsible for this event.”
Ukraine has denied involvement in the explosions.
“The Polish court denied the extradition to Germany of a Ukrainian citizen… And rightly so. The case is closed,” Tusk said in X after the verdict.
The German Justice Ministry and the Federal Prosecutor General’s Office declined to comment on the verdict.
During a trip to Ankara, Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul said the German government respected court rulings.
“In Poland a court has issued a ruling that I respect because we recognize the division of powers,” he said. “When rulings are made, especially in a foreign country, it is not the executive’s job to get involved.”
BIG CLIMB
The explosions largely cut off Russian gas supplies to Europe, marking a major escalation in the Ukraine conflict and reducing energy supplies.
Germany’s top prosecutor’s office says Volodymyr Z. was part of a group suspected of renting a sailboat and planting explosives in oil pipelines near the Danish island of Bornholm.
He faces charges of conspiracy to commit an explosives attack and “unconstitutional sabotage.”
His Polish lawyer rejects the accusations and claims that Volodymyr Z. has done nothing wrong. He has also questioned whether a case involving the destruction of Russian property by a Ukrainian at a time when the countries are at war is a criminal matter.
A second Ukrainian suspect, Serhii K., won a pardon Wednesday when Italy’s top court allowed an appeal against his transfer on procedural grounds. That case will have to go back to court.
In Poland, courts may refuse to hand over wanted suspects under European arrest if this would violate their human rights or if criminal proceedings for the same crime are underway in Poland.
(Reporting by Marek Strzelecki, Anna Koper, Pawel Florkiewicz and Barbara Erling in Warsaw, Sarah Marsh, Kirsti Knolle, Thomas Escritt and Andreas Rinke in Berlin, Emilio Parodi in Milan, writing by Alan Charlish, editing by Susan Fenton, Kirsten Donovan)