A Warsaw district court denied Germany’s request to extradite a Ukrainian suspect in the Nord Stream sabotage, and Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk declared the case closed.
Decision on Volodymyr Z.
On Friday, the Warsaw District Court rejected Germany’s request to extradite the Ukrainian suspect, Volodymyr Z., charged with sabotaging the Nord Stream pipeline. The court found that the European Arrest Warrant could not be executed. Germany’s Federal Constitutional Court granted the suspect a remission of detention. Both parties may appeal the ruling.
Tusk: Case Closed
The Polish prime minister posted on X: “Polish court denied extradition to Germany of the Ukrainian accused of sabotaging Nord Stream 2 and released him from detention – and rightly so. Case closed.”
Defense Argues Two Grounds for Non‑Extradition
Volodymyr Z.’s lawyer, Mech. Tymoteusz Paprocki, said there were two reasons the suspect should not be extradited. First, he argued that a fair trial could not be obtained in Germany because its judiciary is not independent and its judges lack material immunity. Second, he cited functional immunity, claiming that during armed conflict, both military and civilian actors enter the battlefield and that EU authorities may treat Nord Stream 1 and 2 as Russian military infrastructure. Under such a view, Ukrainian agents could be seen as engaging in acts of constitutional sabotage.
Nord Stream Sabotage Incident
On 26 September 2022, three of the four lines of the Nord Stream 1 and 2 pipelines were damaged. The 1,222‑kilometre pipeline transports Russian natural gas to Germany, lying about 80 metres below the Baltic Sea floor. The 49‑year‑old Ukrainian suspect claims he was in Ukraine at the time of the attack and had no part in it.
