Supreme Court upholds detention of Russian national in US extradition case

Cyprus's Supreme Court has dismissed a legal challenge from a Russian man held in Larnaca pending extradition to the United States, ruling his custody lawful under an extradition treaty.

Supreme Court upholds detention of Russian national in US extradition case

The island's highest court has thrown out an appeal filed by a Russian citizen jailed in Larnaca, affirming that his apprehension and continued imprisonment are legitimate within the framework of surrender proceedings sought by American officials.

Officers seized the man on 9 May at Larnaca airport following an Interpol bulletin issued by US agencies. The alert claims he took part in conspiracy and money laundering schemes spanning from April 2023 through June 2025.

His attorneys told the bench that police acted merely on an Interpol warning without a proper surrender petition in place at the time of arrest. They requested freedom under strict terms: posting bail, checking in with officers each day, and giving up passports.

The Larnaca criminal court refused, keeping the suspect locked up until 30 June and giving American prosecutors fifty days to deliver the formal documents. State lawyers persuaded the magistrate that escape was a real danger, pointing out the accused had come to the island purely as a holidaymaker with no roots in the community.

The Supreme Court backed the prosecution. It found that the remand was issued by a proper tribunal under Cypriot surrender legislation and a pact signed with Washington, so the jailing could not be branded illegal. Complaints about process, the justices added, belong in different proceedings, not the review route the prisoner had picked.

The appellate bench also refused to revisit the trial judge's conclusion about the danger of flight, treating it as a factual call reserved for the first-instance court. The fifty-day deadline, the ruling stressed, sits comfortably inside the sixty-day window the bilateral pact allows for paperwork. Rights of further appeal, the court pointed out, only kick in after a full surrender hearing, which remains pending.

The plea was turned down and the appellant must cover €800 in legal costs.

Source: Cyprus Mail

Source: Cyprus Mail