Georgia hands over Yaroslav Sumbaev to Russian law enforcers
By Natalia Kochiashvili
Friday, October 25
Georgia has satisfied Moscow's request and handed over Yaroslav Sumbaev to Russia, who has been linked to cybercrime, criminal gang command, and murder of an investigator in Russia.
Extradition command of Sumbayev, wanted by Interpol Red Circuit, was delivered on October 15. He was taken from the Larsi checkpoint on the morning of October 24 and was handed over to Russian law enforcement agents.
“Everyone should know that regardless of which country’s citizen - including the Russian Federation - is a potential perpetrator, Georgia is not a shelter for criminals ... it cannot be an oasis to escape justice in their own country," said Justice Minister Tea Tsulukiani.
According to the minister, the European Court of Human Rights does not think that Sumbaev can be subjected to any kind of inhuman treatment and does not prevent the transfer of the applicant Sumbayev.
Russian hackers lawyer, Ivane Norakidze says the European court has not yet made a final decision on Sumbaev's extradition and the Justice Minister is lying when she argues the opposite.
Norakidze, considered Sumbaiev's extradition to Russia inadmissible. He appealed to the European Court of Human Rights to suspend the extradition of the hacker.
The court - in a ruling dated September 6, issued to the Radio Liberty from the Ministry of Justice - wrote that it "would not prevent the transfer of the applicant [Yaroslav Sumbaev]," which the Strasbourg court considered permissible to extradite Sumbayev to Russia.
Justice Minister described the decision as a "final response" to the European court's refusal to suspend Sumbaev's extradition.
"Ask them why they were lying for a month and a half, why they were holding a rally in front of the Ministry of Justice, and why they were saying just 10 minutes ago that the process was going on in Strasbourg, and they didn't say the process was over," said Tsulukiani.
Lawyer Ivane Norakidze says that the September 6 decision is not final. He claims that there was another Strasbourg ruling, dated with October 15, when the court took the case to trial and had not yet made a final decision.
The document - provided to Radio Liberty by Norakidze - states that the court's September 6 ruling remains in force. However, the substantive lawsuit was received, reviewed and reported by the lawyers. Norakidze claims that the Minister of Justice knows about this:
"The minister was obliged to wait for the final decision, as she was informed about it."
Ivane Norakidze says he wants to institute a criminal case against Tea Tsulukiani for illegal order and abuse of authority.
Russian citizen Yaroslav Sumbaev was arrested in Tbilisi on November 5, 2018. Sumbaev's defender was against his extradition because, in his view, "human rights are massively violated in Russia."
The Russian investigation considers Sumbayev to be the organizer of a group of hackers who stole tour operators' data and sold fake rail tickets. The team of investigator Evgeny Shishkina was investigating the case. Shishkina was killed on October 10, 2018. Shishkina's family lawyer told the BBC Russian service that Yaroslav Sumbaev is the main suspect in the organizing of the murder of the investigator, allegedly carried out online.
Lawyer Ivane Norakidze says that he does not admit any charges against his client. He said the case was fabricated because Sumbayev - as a specialist - had refused to cooperate with the Russian Federal Security Service in his time.
"After that, his pursuit begins," says Norakidze, adding that Sumbayev has lived in Belarus since 2013, then in Turkey and after that arrived in Georgia on June 6, 2017.
"The fake passport was used really because this person was pursued." – Norakidze explained, yet noted, that neither Georgia nor Russia press charges against Sumbayev regarding keeping a firearm.
