South Korean citizen Do Kwon will be placed in a shelter for foreigners until a new extradition decision is made, said his lawyer Goran Rodić.
He believes that today's treatment of his client is illegal and has announced an appeal to the Administrative Court.
Video: Boris Pejović
Earlier today, after serving his prison sentence, Do Kwon was escorted to the old police building in Podgorica, to the inspector for foreigners, under strong security measures.
Rodić told reporters that the interrogation of Do Kwon at the Police Directorate lasted for five hours and said that the South Korean citizen should have waited for the extradition proceedings and defended himself from freedom.
"This morning, from nine to two in the afternoon, there was an illegal treatment in the Police Department against our client, who, according to the court's decision, was supposed to wait for the extradition procedure and defend himself from freedom after the court decision today, because the court determined the measure by which his travel document is taken away However, it seems that an order has arrived, like the order for the previous two days for the action of the VDT and the urgent action of the Supreme Court of Montenegro in this case, and the basis is certainly illegal action, and according to that illegal decision today, Do Kwon will be placed in a shelter," Rodić said.
He said that he will file a complaint with the Administrative Court.
"But we will see in the next few days how this race-mongering will unfold. We can predict some things, but unfortunately the situation in the Cnogorsk judiciary is like this," Rodić said.
The prison sentence of the so-called "cryptocurrency king" expired today, and the court announced yesterday that his travel documents will be confiscated, so that he will not be able to leave Montenegro.
Video: Boris Pejović
Earlier yesterday, the Council of the Supreme Court passed a decision on postponing the extradition of Do Kwon to South Korea, pending a decision on the request submitted by the Supreme State Prosecutor's Office for the protection of legality.
Video: Boris Pejović
The Supreme Court explained that it was decided on the proposal of the VDT from March 6 and the decision of the Court of Appeal from March 20, submitted with the request for protection of legality.
"... It passed a decision that determined the postponement of the above-mentioned decisions 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 the decision on the submitted request for the protection of legality ", it is written in the announcement of the Supreme Court.
Video: Boris Pejović
They announced that after the decision, they will also inform the Ministry of Justice, which is now obliged to inform the state that requested the extradition.
In the request of the VDT, it is 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...
It says that the quoted decisions "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 a single application has been 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 conditions for extradition, after which the Minister of Justice... decides on the permission for extradition", it is stated in the request of the VDT.
The panel, composed of judge Milenko Seka Žižić as 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 provision of Article 440 paragraph 4 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, stating that in this case the courts took over 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...
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 the 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 was refused at the request of the USA.
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