Sweden Detains Ex-Lawmaker Svyatash, Sentenced in Absentia in Ukraine

Former Party of Regions lawmaker Dmytro Svyatash, sentenced in absentia in Ukraine to 12 years in prison for justifying Russian aggression and fraud, has been detained at Stockholm airport, the Swedish outlet Expressen reported.

Svyatash is now in custody at the Swedish Migration Agency's temporary detention centre in Mörsta. He arrived in Sweden last week and landed at Arlanda airport on Thursday. According to his lawyer, Mark Safaryan, he came to attend a Stevie Wonder concert in Stockholm. At passport control, border police detained Svyatash and refused him entry.

Citizenship and the reason for the ban

Svyatash holds both Russian and Ukrainian citizenship but reportedly presented a Ukrainian passport at the border. The lawyer says the official reason for the entry ban is a Polish re-entry ban, which was reportedly entered in the Schengen Area's shared database. Safaryan, however, believes the move has a political motive and called his client "one of the most wanted people in Ukraine." In an appeal, the lawyer states that Svyatash opposes his extradition to Ukraine.

The case in Ukraine

In summer 2024 a Ukrainian court sentenced Svyatash to 12 years in prison. He was found guilty of justifying Russia's armed aggression against Ukraine and of fraud worth 2.2 billion hryvnias. Since 2023 the former lawmaker has also been suspected of treason. He fled Ukraine in 2019 and has lived in Russia since. From 2002 to 2019 he was a member of the Verkhovna Rada, then representing the Party of Regions.

Recently it was reported that a pro-Russian politician from Latvia decided to stay in Belarus after his party's failure in elections, and that in Estonia one of the leaders of the pro-Russian Koos party, Aivo Peterson, was sentenced to 14 years in prison for treason. More in world.