A Moscow court has extended the arrest of Igor Girkin, a former commander of Russian proxy forces in the occupied part of Donetsk Oblast, for three more months, Russian media reported on Sept. 12.
Girkin, who has been detained on charges of extremism, asked the court to transfer him to house arrest due to alleged health issues, according to Mediazona, a Russian independent media outlet.
"I am wanted by Interpol and sentenced to life imprisonment (by The Hague court). Therefore, I cannot hide abroad. But I don't see any point in hiding in Russia since I don't recognize the accusation and intend to refute it," Girkin argued, as cited by Mediazona.
However, an investigator said that Girkin can be kept in custody with the recorded diagnosis of hypertension. The Moscow court rejected the war criminal's appeal and prolonged his pre-trial detention until Dec. 18.
Oleg Sukhov
Girkin, also known under the alias Strelkov, is a former officer of Russia's Federal Security Service (FSB) who played a major role in the Russian aggression against Ukraine's Donbas region in 2014.
Girkin has been found guilty by The Hague court of participating in the downing of Malaysia Airlines Flight MH17, which killed 298 people in 2014.
During the full-scale invasion of Ukraine, he has often lambasted the Kremlin for mishandling the war effort. Girkin co-founded the Club of Angry Patriots, a hardline nationalist movement pushing for more extreme measures to achieve victory over Ukraine.
He was arrested on extremism charges on July 21 in a sign of the Kremlin's crackdown against the pro-war opposition in Russia. Girkin is being held in the Lefortovo pre-trial detention center in Moscow.
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