Italy’s highest court ruled that a Ukrainian citizen suspected of involvement in the 2022 explosions that damaged Nord Stream gas pipelines in the Baltic Sea cannot be extradited to Germany.
The 2022 explosions near Denmark’s Bornholm island made global headlines after they disabled pipelines.
Nicola Canestrini, the suspect’s lawyer, said, “In light of today’s outcome, I will assess over the next few days whether the conditions exist to request my client’s release, as the legal basis for his detention has now been removed.”
What’s the latest on the Nord Stream case?
The Cassation Court in Rome is the last resort to block the 49-year-old suspect’s extradition to Germany, where federal prosecutors want to charge him with a combined bombing and anti-constitutional subversion.
German investigators believe the man was one of the masterminds behind the underwater explosions that destroyed parts of the Nord Stream 1 and 2 pipelines.
The suspect was arrested in late August while vacationing with his family on Italy’s Adriatic coast. The lower appeals court has already approved his extradition. If confirmed, he could be transferred to Germany by the end of next month and stand trial in Hamburg.
Four leaks were later found in three out of four pipeline strands. Nord Stream 1 was supplying gas to Germany, while Nord Stream 2 never entered service after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
A second Ukrainian suspect – a 46-year-old trained diver – is detained in Poland, where authorities are still considering Germany’s request for extradition.
The Nord Stream attacks remain one of Europe’s most politically sensitive unsolved cases, with investigators in several countries conducting separate but coordinated investigations.
Edited by: Wesley Rahn and Roshni Majumdar