Italy’s highest court is set to decide on Wednesday whether to extradite a Ukrainian national suspected of involvement in the 2022 in the Baltic Sea.
The 2022 explosions near Denmark’s Bornholm island made global headlines after they rendered the pipelines inoperable.
What is the latest on the Nord Stream case?
The Court of Cassation in Rome is the final venue for the 49-year-old suspect to block extradition to Germany, where federal prosecutors want to charge him with jointly causing an explosion and committing anti-constitutional sabotage. A ruling was expected late Wednesday.
German investigators believe the man was one of the masterminds behind the underwater blasts that destroyed parts of the Nord Stream 1 and 2 pipelines.
The suspect was arrested in late August while on holiday with his family on Italy’s Adriatic coast. A lower appeals court has already approved his extradition. If confirmed, he could be transferred to Germany by the end of next month and tried in Hamburg.
Four leaks were later found in three of the four pipeline strands. Nord Stream 1 had been supplying gas to Germany, while Nord Stream 2 had never gone into service following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
A second Ukrainian suspect — a 46-year-old trained diver — , where authorities are still considering Germany’s request for extradition.
The Nord Stream attacks remain , with investigators in several countries pursuing separate but coordinated probes.
Edited by: Wesley Rahn
The post Italy: Top court to rule on Nord Stream suspect extradition appeared first on Deutsche Welle.
