Russia has handed over to Belarus an MMA fighter Alexey Kudin, who is accused at home of resisting a policeman with violence. The ECHR demanded not to do this and asked for a copy of the data on the verification of the fighter’s claims about the torture threatening him
Alexey Kudin
Despite the decision of the ECHR, Russia handed over to Belarus MMA fighter Alexey Kudin, who is accused of resisting a policeman with violence, the Sports Solidarity Fund, which supports Belarusian opposition athletes, reported. This information was later confirmed by the Prosecutor General’s Office of Belarus. According to the foundation, Kudin is currently in pre-trial detention Center No. 1 in Minsk. A representative of the organization told RBC that they received this information from several sources in the law enforcement agencies of Belarus. According to them, the fighter was taken out late in the evening on July 21 by an Aeroflot flight.
The Public Monitoring Commission (PMC) of Moscow also received information in the morning that the prisoner may have been taken out of the Russian pre-trial detention center No. 12, deputy chairman of the commission Eva Merkacheva told RBC. Human rights activists sent a request to the institution about the whereabouts of Kudin.
RBC sent a request to the Federal Penitentiary Service of Russia, the Federal Penitentiary Service in Moscow and the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Belarus.
On the eve of Monday, the Court of Appeal in Moscow upheld the decision to extradite Alexey Kudin. A few hours before the meeting, the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR), in accordance with rule 39, banned the extradition of Alexey Kudin to Russia. According to this rule, he must stay in Russia until the European Court of Justice makes a final decision. The ECHR has notified the Russian government thatKudin should not be extradited or otherwise expelled from Russia at least until August 17, said the letter that the European Court sent to the defenders of the fighter (available to RBC). By August 10, Russia, among other things, must provide the European Court with a copy of the data on the prosecutor’s verification of the accused’s allegations of torture threatening him in Belarus, the message also said.
Kudin could have been taken out of the pre-trial detention center on the evening of July 21, his lawyer Maria Krasnova told RBC. “At about 19 pm, we saw a paddy wagon quickly leave [from the territory of pre-trial detention center No. 12] and immediately an escort car with Russian license plates was attached to it,” she says. If the information about the transfer of Kudin to Belarus is confirmed, the defense will seek compensation through the European Court and demand an investigation of the situation.
Kudin was detained in Moscow on January 21 for a subsequent decision on extradition to Belarus. There, the fighter is accused under Part 2 of Article 363 of the Criminal Code (resistance to an employee of the internal affairs bodies or another person guarding public order). The maximum penalty is five years in prison. The country’s law enforcement agencies believe that he used force against a police officer at a rally of the Belarusian opposition in August last year.
Since August 2020, Russia has been satisfying almost all requests from Minsk for the extradition of citizens accused of participating in the protests. The exception is the case of the administrator of the telegram chat “Lida for Life” Nikolay Davidchik.At the end of April, the Russian Prosecutor General’s Office refused to extradite Davidchik to the Belarusian authorities. He was released from the courthouse, having imposed a fine of five thousand rubles. At home, he is accused of gross violation of public order (Article 342 of the Criminal Code).
In April, the KGB of Belarus and the FSB of Russia conducted a joint special operation. Political scientists Alexander Feduta and lawyer Yuras Zenkovich were detained in Moscow, they were handed over to Belarus without trial, where they were later accused of planning an attempt on Alexander Lukashenko and his sons, as well as preparing a coup.
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