Ex-politician wanted in Ukraine detained in Sweden

Dmytro Sviatash was one of Ukraine's richest people and had been a member of parliament for nearly 20 years when he fled to Russia in 2019, after authorities launched an embezzlement investigation.

In 2023, he was also formally charged with treason, accused of passing information to Russia and expressing his support for their full-scale invasion in early 2022.

In 2024, he was sentenced in a Ukrainian court to twelve years in prison in absentia and was internationally wanted. However, Interpol withdrew its search warrant when the verdict was later appealed, according to Ukrainian Radio Svoboda.

Extradition must be attempted

When Dmytro Sviatash was arrested by the border police at Arlanda on 22 October, the official reason was said to have been a re-entry ban to the Schengen area recently issued by Poland. After a hearing in the district court on Thursday, however, he is now "provisionally detained", a form of detention that is used when another country wants time to prepare a formal request for extradition.

Sviatash can now be detained for another 40 days pending the next announcement from Ukraine. According to the Public Prosecutor's Office, an investigation is also underway into the conditions for a release, conditions that Sviatash's lawyer Henrik Lilja comments as follows:

- After all, there is a very clear ruling from the Supreme Court just three years ago, where it was said that extradition to Ukraine would not take place because of the war and the prevailing conditions there.

"A political issue"

His client denies all allegations of crimes in the former home country.

- We believe that this is a political issue, and our clearest argument is that he is in opposition to Zelenskyi. And even if the whole of Europe supports Ukraine, you can probably think about what legal certainty looks like in their current situation, says Henrik Olsson Lilja.