MOSCOW, June 1 (RIA Novosti) - The Czech Helsinki Committee (CHV) has questioned the decision to extradite Russian businessman Alexei Torubarov to Russia because his asylum request was not given proper consideration, the CTK news agency reported on Saturday.
CHV’s Lubica Turzova said Czech Justice Minister Pavel Blazek did not have the right to extradite Torubarov.
Blazek's spokeswoman Stepanka Cechova previously said the minister had allowed the extradition to go head after it had been approved by the Supreme Court.
Torubarov was accused in Russia of committing gross fraud and blackmailing a secret service officer. He claims he himself was blackmailed by the Russian secret service, police and organized crime groups, CTK reported.
He applied for asylum in the Czech Republic, but was taken into custody under an international arrest warrant.
However, when Torubarov was to leave for Russia on May 2, the Czech finance, foreign, transport and interior ministers attempted to stop the extradition, the agency said.
"A justice minister must not allow the extradition of a person whose asylum proceedings are underway," the CHV said in a press release, adding that Blazek's explanation that he had acted on the basis of a court ruling amounted to passing the buck.
A minister can ban extradition even if courts allow it, the CHV said.
