Pantović: The power of attorney is in the files, let them submit the solutions

Attorney Ratko Pantović claims that the Ministry of Justice still hasn't delivered the decision that his clients, American citizens Richard Ayvazian (43) and Marieta Terabelian (37) were taken from extradition custody to the prison unit of the Administration for the Execution of Criminal Sanctions (UIKS).

He was reacting to allegations from the Ministry of Justice, which previously announced that the extradition proceedings had ended and that Aivazian and Terabelian would be extradited to the United States of America - regardless of the criminal charges and hunger strikes. At the time, they also announced that Pantović did not provide them with a general power of attorney for representation before state authorities, asserting that he was only asking for information and threatening reports.

Commenting on these allegations, Pantović said that in the case file there is a power of attorney by which Ajvazijan and Terabelian authorized him to represent them in the extradition procedure.

"Given that the extradition procedure has not yet been completed, as confirmed by the Ministry of Justice in their response, this means that the authorization is still valid," Pantović said.

"Putting authorization aside, the Ministry of Justice has not explained why they have not delivered a single piece of paper to my clients to date. Are they perhaps waiting for my clients to authorize themselves and provide them with powers of attorney, so that the Ministry of Justice will deliver them the papers. It is completely clear that this procedure was conducted contrary to the Code of Criminal Procedure and that my clients, without legal basis, are still detained in the Penitentiary, said Pantović.

He asked that from the ministry he heads Marko Kovač answers to several, as he said, important questions:

"Did, and if so, when did they deliver any document to my clients about their transfer from extradition detention to the KP Dom?" Did and when did they deliver the decision of the High Court on the rejection of Ajvazijan's and my appeals against the decision on extradition? Also, we ask that they provide us with excerpts from the faxes, from which it can be seen when the said solutions were sent to UIKS, as well as delivery notes with the time and date when these solutions were delivered to my clients. Our knowledge is that the solutions were never delivered to my clients, and we have no confirmation as to whether, when, at what date and at what time they were delivered to UIKS".

Pantović also claims that the decision of the High Court on extradition, although the Ministry of Justice announced that it was translated and given to his client Ajvazijan, has not yet been delivered to that American citizen.

"I visited my client on October 31 at the KP Dom. It had not been delivered to him by that date. It was confirmed to me from unofficial sources that the translation of that decision was made only on October 28. From that fact alone, it is clear that the decision on extradition was not legally binding or enforceable, nor could the director of the Directorate in the Ministry of Justice sign the decision on the execution of my clients, and especially could not sign any decision on their transfer from extradition custody to the KP Dom," he said. Pantovic.

The lawyer pointed out that he did not want to argue through the media, that it was not his intention, but that we wanted him to get any paper:

"So that I could do my job and protect my clients as a lawyer," he concluded.

Ayvazian, his wife Terabelian and his daughter-in-law Tamara Dadjan (42) were arrested at the end of February in Montenegro, and were among the most wanted fugitives on the list of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI). They and five other family members were convicted in the US of stealing more than $18 million in loans to help fight covid, and have been wanted since August 29, 2021, when they removed their nanolegs and fled.

In November of last year, they were convicted in absentia of conspiring to commit bank fraud and money laundering.