The Supreme Court postponed the extradition of Do Kwon to South Korea

The Supreme Court panel has postponed the extradition of cryptocurrency king Do Kwon to his home country - South Korea until they rule on the request for protection of legality, which was brought by the Supreme State Prosecutor's Office.

"At today's session of the council, a Decision was adopted which determines the postponement of the execution of the decision of the High Court in Podgorica and the Court of Appeal of Montenegro, until the decision of the Supreme Court on the Request for the protection of legality, which will be made within the legal deadline," the statement of the Supreme Court of Montenegro reads. Above.

The decision of the panel, presided over by Judge Seka Piletić, was made because the Supreme State Prosecutor's Office (VDT) submitted a request for the protection of legality on August 2 with a proposal to postpone the execution of the decisions of the High Court in Podgorica and the Court of Appeal to extradite Do Kwon to South Korea.

The reaction of the VDT followed a day after the Court of Appeal upheld the decision of the High Court in Podgorica to approve the extradition of Do Kwon to his home country, and today's decision stopped the Police Directorate and the Ministry of Justice from immediately carrying out the extradition.

The VDT requested that the Supreme Court review whether the decision of the High Court in Podgorica, as well as the Court of Appeal, was legal, which found that the conditions for Do Kwon's extradition to South Korea were met, and to refuse his extradition to the United States of America.

"On August 2, 8, the Supreme State Prosecutor's Office filed a request for protection of legality before the Supreme Court of Montenegro against the decision of the High Court in Podgorica and the Court of Appeal in the aforementioned case, due to the violation of the Law on International Legal Assistance in Criminal Matters. The request in question proposed that the Supreme Court of Montenegro, in accordance with the legal provisions, postpone the execution of the decisions of the High Court in Podgorica and the Appellate Court of Montenegro until the decision of the Supreme Court on the request for the protection of the legality of these court decisions was made", they answered earlier to "Vijesti" in VDT.

Do Kwon's defense attorney, lawyer Goran Radić, told "Vijesta" earlier that "they expect that in accordance with the final decision of the court, Do Kwon will be extradited to South Korea in the coming days."

"Revision of a final decision, which is in favor of the defendant, is not possible except with abuse of position. Since a final decision cannot be changed in a legal way, then there is no point in delaying its execution, but for the sake of future judicial practice, the Supreme Court can discuss this issue in the regular procedure in in accordance with the usual work dynamics", said Rodić.

Rodić also recalled a series of inconsistent legal decisions in the case of Do Kvon's extradition.

"When the High Court made the third summary decision to extradite Kwon to the USA, the prosecution did not object to such a decision. It was perfectly fine and legal for them that the court, not the minister, should decide on extradition. Since that decision was revoked because it was based on false information about the time of receipt of the request for extradition, which was submitted to the court by the Minister of Justice Andrej Milović, the High Court made a new decision allowing the extradition of Kwon to Korea , but the Minister of Justice should decide on Kwon's extradition in the regular procedure. Apparently, it is not important to act in accordance with the law and international agreements, but to fulfill the minister's illegal private promise to extradite Kwon," says Rodić.

He also announced that the seven court decisions in this case of extradition represent a kind of judicial disgrace.

"Of course, a positive exception should be highlighted in all of this - the consistently legal decision-making of the Appellate Court, which was only concerned with the application of laws and international treaties," said Rodić.

Do Kwon has been sued by South Korea and the US for at least $40 billion worth of cryptocurrency fraud crimes, and it is estimated that that much damage was caused to investors by the collapse of his cryptocurrencies - Luna and Terra.

Do Kwon left custody in Spuž and has been waiting for extradition for months at the Aliens Shelter.

In March 2023, he was arrested at the Podgorica airport with his business partner Chang Jun when they tried to fly to Dubai using forged passports.

Until now, the courts in Montenegro have repeatedly ruled on the requests of the USA and South Korea for the extradition of Do Kwon, and it is likely that this case will be recorded as unusual because the same legal matter was decided on as many as seven times.

The high court first decided to extradite him to the US. After the decision was overturned, that court decided to extradite him to South Korea.

In the year and a half since Do Kwon has been in Montenegro after his arrest, many scandals and political fights between the former and current prime minister Dritan Abazović and Milojko Spajić have been linked to his name.