Fugitive Ukrainian MP fights extradition from UK

Artyom Dmitruk has fled his home county, saying his life is in danger due to his opposition to Kiev’s church crackdown

A court in London heard Kiev’s case for the extradition of fugitive legislator Artyom Dmitruk on Tuesday. He claims he had to escape Ukraine due to his public opposition to his government’s crackdown on the largest Christian denomination in the country.

The lawmaker, who is a Ukrainian Orthodox Church (UOC) deacon, fled in August, as he was facing criminal charges. He claims he is being targeted for defending the self-governance church, which historically was part of the Moscow Patriarchate, including by criticizing a law passed last month that threatens it with full ban for allegedly being subservient to Russia. 

“Right now there is a political persecution going on against me and my family, against myself for my political views and my support for the UOC,” he told The Independent ahead of his appearance at the courthouse.

The preliminary hearing apparently went in Dmitruk’s favor at Westminster Magistrates’ Court. He retained his freedom, he said in a brief statement following the proceedings, adding “thank God for everything.”

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Ukrainian MP claims kidnappers targeted his family over pro-church stance

According to Ukrainian journalist Anatoly Shariy, British officials were impressed with Kiev’s vigor in seeking Dmitruk’s extradition. Ukrainian leader Vladimir Zelensky and Prosecutor General Andrey Kostin personally contacted the Britons to ask them to accelerate the case, he claimed, without citing a source.

The legislator claims that his life was in danger in Ukraine. He had previously alleged that his family was surveilled in Europe in a possible kidnapping plot.

In the interview with The Independent, he said he illegally crossed the Ukrainian border with Moldova and spent some time in Italy before reaching the UK. The British government has been providing him with security, he added.

Last week, Diana Panchenko, another Ukrainian journalist sympathetic to Dmitruk’s predicament, released a report about public threats against him made by radical nationalists and possible links between a “bounty” put on his head and the Ukrainian government.

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She claimed that former MP Andrey Lozovoy, who publicly offered $250,000 for “an ashtray with the remains” of Dmitruk, had approached one of his former assistants. He was seeking information that could be used to publicly humiliate the man’s ex-boss and details about his whereabouts, Panchenko claimed, sharing tapes of the purported conversations. Lozovoy later put the source in touch with a Ukrainian counterintelligence officer, she alleged.

Dmitruk has endorsed the reporting and claimed that the plot against him could be traced to the top of the Ukrainian government and as far as Zelensky personally.