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France rejects Ukraine’s extradition request for billionaire charged with bribery, citing risk of unfair trial

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France rejects Ukraine’s extradition request for billionaire charged with bribery, citing risk of unfair trial
Kostyantyn Zhevago leaves after his extradition hearing before the investigating chamber of the Court of Appeal of Chambery, central-eastern France, on March 16, 2023. (Jeff Pachoud/AFP via Getty Images)

The Paris Court of Appeal on Oct. 29 rejected a request to extradite Ukrainian billionaire Kostiantyn Zhevago to his home country, the news agency Interfax Ukraine reported.

The court ruled that Zhevago would not face a fair trial in Ukraine, and his rights would not be protected.

The request was filed by the Ukrainian authorities in a bribery case against Zhevago, who has denied the accusations of wrongdoing.

The National Anti-Corruption Bureau (NABU) charged him in 2023 with bribing Vsevolod Kniazev, former head of the Supreme Court.

Zhevago transferred $2.7 million to his lawyer, of which $1.8 million was intended to be the bribe for the Supreme Court, and the rest was for the legal advisor's "mediation services," according to the NABU.

In 2023 a French court also rejected Ukraine's extradition request for Zhevago in a separate embezzlement case.

In 2019, Zhevago was charged with embezzling and laundering $113 million at Finance & Credit Bank.

Zhevago is the owner of the iron pellet producer Ferrexpo.

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Oleg Sukhov

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Oleg Sukhov is a reporter at the Kyiv Independent. He is a former editor and reporter at the Moscow Times. He has a master's degree in history from the Moscow State University. He moved to Ukraine in 2014 due to the crackdown on independent media in Russia and covered war, corruption, reforms and law enforcement for the Kyiv Post.

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