The Council of the Supreme Court passed a decision on postponing the extradition of the "cryptocurrency king" Hyeong Do Kwon to South Korea, pending a decision on the request submitted by the Supreme State Prosecutor's Office for the protection of legality.
This was announced by the Supreme Court.
The Council, they said, decided on the proposal of the VDT to postpone the execution of the decision of the High Court from March 6 and the decision of the Court of Appeal from March 20, submitted with the request for the protection of legality.
"...decided to postpone the above-mentioned decision on the extradition of the defendant Kwon Do Hyeong to the Republic of South Korea, and at the request of the Ministry of Justice of the Republic of South Korea, from March 24, 2023, until a decision is made on the submitted request for the protection of legality ", it is written in the announcement of the Supreme Court.
After the decision of the Supreme Court, the Ministry of Justice will also be notified, which is now obliged to inform the state, which requested the extradition of Do Kwon.
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In the explanation of the decision, it is stated that the VDT requested that the execution of the decisions of the High Court in Podgorica and the Court of Appeal be postponed until the decision on the submitted request for the protection of legality...
In the request of the VDT, it is essentially stated that the lower courts found that the legal prerequisites for the extradition of Do Kwon to South Korea were met, as well as that the defendant gave his consent for the extradition to be carried out in a simplified procedure...
VDT stated in the request that the cited solutions "violated the law and that this violation is reflected in the fact that extradition in abbreviated procedure is applied only in those cases of extradition when one application was submitted...
In the request for the protection of the legality of the VDT, headed by Milorad Marković, it is also stated that in other situations, when there are two or more requests for extradition, there is no room to apply the abbreviated extradition procedure, but the regular extradition procedure is applied.
"When the court decides on each request for extradition in terms of the fulfillment of the legal requirements for extradition, after which the Minister of Justice, bearing in mind the provisions of Article 17 of the European Convention on Extradition, Article 26 in connection with Articles 21 and 22 of the Law on International Legal Assistance in criminal matters, and possibly the existence of a bilateral agreement, decides on the permission of extradition", it is stated in the request of the VDT.ž
The panel, composed of judge Milenko Seka Žižić as the president of the panel and judges Ana Vuković, Zorana Šćepanović, Vesna Vučković and Seka Piletić, as members of the panel, issued a decision in accordance with the provisions of Article 440 paragraph 4 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, stating that in this case the courts assumed jurisdiction of the Minister of Justice.
In the explanation, it is stated that the court exceeded the powers that belong to it under the Law on International Legal Assistance in Criminal Matters and took over the powers that are under the competence of the Minister of Justice...
Yesterday, the Supreme State Prosecutor's Office filed a request for the protection of legality before the Supreme Court following the decision of the Court of Appeal to confirm the decision of the High Court in Podgorica, which allows the extradition of Do Kwon in a shortened procedure, at the request of South Korea, and refuses the extradition at the request of the United States of America.
The request for the protection of legality was also raised because the Court of Appeal did not hear the state prosecutor in the Supreme State Prosecutor's Office in the appeal procedure contrary to the provisions of the Law on International Legal Assistance in Criminal Matters and the Law on the State Prosecutor's Office, which stipulates that only the Supreme State Prosecutor's Office acts before the Appellate Court. by the court, which violated the provisions of the criminal procedure, and which had an impact on the adoption of a legal court decision.
The Supreme State Prosecutor's Office proposed to the Supreme Court to determine that the request for protection of legality was founded and to issue a verdict that would change the Court's decision.
The day before yesterday, the Court of Appeal rejected the appeal of Do Kwon's defense attorneys and confirmed the decision of the High Court in Podgorica from March 6.
The first-instance decision of the High Court allowed the summary extradition of Do Kwon, for the purpose of criminal prosecution for several criminal offenses at the request of South Korea, while the summary extradition of this defendant was refused at the request of the United States of America.
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