The court decides, not the minister, South Korea has an advantage?

The Court of Appeal announced yesterday that it is in favor of the final decision on the extradition of the "cryptocurrency king" To Kwon the competent court and not the Minister of Justice, and that the High Court did not determine who first requested his extradition, the country of which he is a citizen, South Korea or the United States of America.

This could mean that the Minister of Justice will Andrej Milović to be able to only forward the court's decision to colleagues in these countries, without the right to decide otherwise, as in the recent case of a Turkish citizen Biennial of Camgoza, a legal expert who wished to remain anonymous told "Vijesta".

The Court of Appeal overturned the first-instance decision of the High Court, which found that the legal prerequisites for the extradition of Do Kwon for criminal prosecution for multiple criminal offenses were met at the request of both countries.

The press release states that this was done after the session of the council on February 7, in which they accepted the appeal of Do Kwon's defense attorneys and returned the case to the first-instance High Court in Podgorica for retrial and decision.

"The first-instance decision of the High Court in Podgorica Kv. no. 1404/23 dated 29 December 12 established that the legal prerequisites for the extradition of the citizen of the Republic of South Korea, the defendant Kwon Do Hyeong, for the purpose of criminal prosecution for multiple criminal offenses have been met. of the Republic of South Korea and the requests of the United States of America. Deciding on the appeal of the defendant's defense attorneys, the panel of the Appellate Court assessed that the decision was affected by significant violations of the provisions of criminal procedure from Article 2023 paragraph 386 items 1 and 8 of the CPC, because the wording of the decision is incomprehensible, the decision has no reason for decisive facts, and the reasons given are unclear, which is the reason for its cancellation", according to the announcement of the Court of Appeal.

They explain that the first-instance court did not take into account that in this particular case it is a shortened extradition procedure in which the court, in accordance with Article 29 of the Law on International Legal Assistance in Criminal Matters, and not the Minister of Justice, unlike the regular procedure, makes a decision on extradition.

"Also, it was established that the first-instance court did not unequivocally determine the order of arrival of the petitioners of the Republic of South Korea and the United States of America, which is one of the criteria when deciding in terms of Article 26 of the aforementioned law, in the case when the extradition of the same person is requested by several countries," it says in the announcement.

Minister of Justice Andrej Milović hinted in a media interview that he would extradite Do Kwon to the USA.

"Vijesti" learned that South Korea was the first to submit the request for Do Kwon's extradition.

The legal expert with whom Vijesti spoke said that the criterion of priority of extradition according to the order of arrival of requests for extradition, apart from the Montenegrin law, is prescribed in European convention law and in the bilateral agreement with the USA from the last century, which is still valid in Montenegro, and that preference is everywhere given to the country that submitted the application first.

"If the extradition of the same person is requested by several countries for the same or different criminal offenses, when deciding on the permission to extradite, the gravity of the criminal offences, the place of execution, the order of submission of the request, the nationality of the requested person, the possibility of further extradition to another country, as well as other circumstances will be taken into account" , is stated in Article 26 of the Law on International Legal Assistance in Criminal Matters.

Do Kwon and his business partner were arrested on March 23 last year at the Podgorica airport when they used forged Costa Rican passports during passport control on a flight to Dubai.

On the eve of the June elections, the then Prime Minister Dritan Abazovic, disclosed that Do Kwon sent him and the prosecutor's office a letter from detention in Spuz stating that he had met with the future prime minister Milojko Spajić, as well as asking him for financial support for the campaign. Spajić confirmed that he met with him in Belgrade, but denied that he received any help. Do Kwon's lawyer Goran Rodić announced that his client told the prosecution that he did not help the Europe Now campaign.

Do Kwon and his associate initially denied that the documents were fake, but later changed their minds and admitted to the crime during the trial, explaining that they had obtained the fake Costa Rican and Belgian passports through an agency in Singapore.

They were each sentenced to four months in prison for falsifying documents, after which the Basic State Prosecutor's Office in Podgorica filed an appeal against the verdict, insisting that the sentences be tougher.

The court's decision, however, was upheld. His associate Hon Chang Yong has since been extradited to South Korea, because the US did not request him.

Do Kwon is currently in extradition custody, which expires in the middle of this month, after which he will have to serve the remainder of his forty-day sentence for document forgery.

Kwon is officially wanted by foreign countries for criminal conspiracy and other crimes.

The world media writes that it is suspected of a fraud of 40 billion dollars, after the collapse of ter and luna tokens the year before last.

Rodić: There was pressure on the court

Do Kvo's lawyer Goran Rodić told "Vijesta" that there were attempts to impose on the public the view that the minister decides on extradition.

"The minister's public appearances and certain media spins put pressure on the court in a certain way, prejudicing the legally binding court decision, with the intention of imposing at any cost the position that the minister is the one who will make the extradition decision. All this, despite the fact that the law stipulates in certain situations that the court is competent to make such a decision, and not the minister, said Rodić.