{"id":2970,"date":"2021-06-02T04:22:48","date_gmt":"2021-06-02T04:22:48","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/mediateka.online\/learnrussian\/can-russia-extradite-its-citizens-jailed-in-belarus-we-asked-an-international-law-expert-to-weigh-in.html"},"modified":"2021-06-02T04:22:48","modified_gmt":"2021-06-02T04:22:48","slug":"can-russia-extradite-its-citizens-jailed-in-belarus-we-asked-an-international-law-expert-to-weigh-in","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mediateka.online\/learnrussian\/can-russia-extradite-its-citizens-jailed-in-belarus-we-asked-an-international-law-expert-to-weigh-in.html","title":{"rendered":"Can Russia extradite its citizens jailed in Belarus? We asked an international law expert to weigh in."},"content":{"rendered":"<figure class=\"EmbedBlock-module_root__28k9U EmbedBlock-module_cc__1BQ5g EmbedBlock-module_default__LSDny EmbedBlock-module_desktop__SF5a_ EmbedBlock-module_proportional__3lAv4\">BelaPAN \/ Reuters \/ Scanpix \/ LETA<\/figure>\n<p class=\"SimpleBlock-module_lead__35nXx\">There are at least two Russian nationals in custody in Belarus in connection with criminal cases launched over opposition protests. Russian citizen Sofia Sapega was arrested on unspecified charges alongside Belarusian opposition journalist Roman Protasevich, shortly after the forced landing of a Ryanair plane in Minsk on May 23. And Russian national Yegor Dudnikov, who moved to Belarus about a year ago, is in custody on suspicion of organizing protests because he recorded voice-over for Belarusian opposition videos. Though the Kremlin\u2019s spokesman has said that Moscow \u201cmay de jure raise the issue\u201d of Sapega being handed over to the Russian authorities, Belarus\u2019s Foreign Minister maintains that her trial will take place in Belarus. For a legal perspective on what might happen to these Russian nationals facing charges abroad, Meduza turned to Kirill Koroteev, the head of international practice at the human rights group Agora.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p class=\"SimpleBlock-module_p__Q3azD\">\u201cIn my opinion, Sofia Sapega and Yegor Dudnikov didn\u2019t do anything illegal and, in any case, they have the right to be presumed innocent,\u201d says human rights lawyer Kirill Koroteev in conversation with Meduza. As he underscores, the charges against these two Russian nationals detained in Belarus remain unknown. However, there are two international conventions that could play a role in their trials or even bring about their extradition to Russia: the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) Moscow Convention on the transfer of persons sentenced to imprisonment, and the CIS Minsk Convention on legal relations. \u201cRelations between Russia and Belarus [in this sphere] are regulated by these very documents,\u201d Koroteev explained.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p class=\"SimpleBlock-module_p__Q3azD\">Regardless, Sofia Sapega and Yegor Dudnikov will have to be tried and convicted by Belarusian courts. Then, in the event that either Russia or the defendants put in an extradition request, a Belarusian court will have to verify whether the defendant\u2019s act is also considered a crime under Russian law. \u201cAccording to the 1993 CIS Minsk Convention, which regulates extradition for criminal prosecution, the Russian citizen\u2019s acts must be recognized as crimes under both Russian and Belarusian law,\u201d Koroteev emphasized. \u201cThat\u2019s to say that only those whose acts are considered crimes in both countries are extradited.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"SimpleBlock-module_p__Q3azD\">In other words, if a Russian citizen is imprisoned in Belarus for an act that isn\u2019t considered a crime in Russia, they remain in Belarus to serve their sentence. \u201cWhat\u2019s more, if Belarus believes that crimes were committed on its territory, it has no obligation to extradite Sapega and Dudnikov to Russia for criminal prosecution,\u201d Koroteev added. \u201cIn this case, the Minsk Convention stipulates that the trial takes place where the preliminary investigation is completed. In this case, this is also Belarus.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"SimpleBlock-module_p__Q3azD\">That said, Belarus can still hand over a Russian citizen to the Russian authorities at Moscow\u2019s request. According to Koroteev, \u201cPractice shows that sentenced persons are usually handed over \u2014 but the decision will be up to Belarus.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"SimpleBlock-module_p__Q3azD\">In the event that a convicted person is extradited to Russia, the Moscow Convention stipulates that \u201conly the law of the country where the person was sent to serve their sentence will apply going forward.\u201d In other words, Russian courts will determine the correctional facility where the extradited person serves their sentence, whether they\u2019re eligible for parole or not, and so on.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p class=\"SimpleBlock-module_p__Q3azD\">\u201cIn addition, a Russian court has the right to overturn the punishment established by the Belarusian court, if the convicted person is transferred to Russia,\u201d Koroteev said, though he added that this would only be the case if a Russian court doesn\u2019t consider the act in question a crime under Russian law.<\/p>\n<h3 class=\"DonatesTeaser-module_title__hs-yr\">Tune in and help Meduza!<\/h3>\n<p>Pledge today<\/p>\n<p class=\"MaterialNote-module_note_caption__1ezSo\">Interview by <strong>Alexandra Sivtsova<\/strong><\/p>\n<p class=\"MaterialNote-module_note_credit__PuFyX\">Summary by <strong>Eilish Hart<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><!--noindex--><a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" href=\"http:\/\/meduza.io\/en\/feature\/2021\/06\/01\/can-russia-extradite-its-citizens-jailed-in-belarus-we-asked-an-international-law-expert-to-weigh-in\">Source<\/a><!--\/noindex--><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>BelaPAN \/ Reuters \/ Scanpix \/ LETA There are at least two Russian nationals in custody in Belarus in connection with criminal cases launched over opposition protests. Russian citizen Sofia Sapega was arrested on unspecified charges alongside Belarusian opposition journalist Roman Protasevich, shortly after the forced landing of a Ryanair plane in Minsk on May [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[87],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2970","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-latest-news-from-russia"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v28.6 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Can Russia extradite its citizens jailed in Belarus? 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