Swedish border police detain former Ukrainian MP sentenced in absentia to 12 years in prison

Former Ukrainian MP Dmytro Sviatash, who was sentenced in absentia to 12 years' imprisonment in Ukraine for justifying Russian aggression and fraud, has been detained at a Stockholm airport.

Source: Swedish newspaper Expressen, as reported by European Pravda

Details: Sviatash is currently being held at the Swedish Migration Agency's temporary detention centre in Märsta.

He arrived in Sweden last week, landing at Arlanda Airport on Thursday.

His lawyer, Mark Safaryan, said Sviatash had travelled to Stockholm to attend a Stevie Wonder concert.

The former MP was detained by border police at passport control and denied entry to Sweden.

Sviatash holds both Russian and Ukrainian citizenship but reportedly presented his Ukrainian passport at border control.

According to his lawyer, the official reason he was denied entry was a Polish decision prohibiting Sviatash from re-entering the country. The ban was entered into a shared database used by Schengen countries.

However, Safaryan believes the decision was politically motivated. The lawyer also described his client as "one of the most wanted people in Ukraine".

Safaryan stated in an appeal that Sviatash opposes his extradition to Ukraine.

In summer 2024, a Ukrainian court sentenced Sviatash to 12 years in prison after finding him guilty of justifying Russia's armed aggression against Ukraine and fraud to the tune of UAH 2.2 billion (about US$48.1 million).

In addition, the former MP has been under suspicion of treason since 2023.

Sviatash fled Ukraine in 2019 and has lived in Russia ever since. He served as a member of Ukraine's parliament from 2002 to 2019 and was a member of the Party of Regions.

Previously:

• It was recently reported that Alexei Roslikov, a pro-Russian politician from Latvia, had decided to remain in Belarus after his party's poor performance in the elections.
• In Estonia, Aivo Peterson, one of the leaders of the pro-Russian Koos party, has been sentenced to 14 years in prison for treason.

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