Exiled Russian wins extradition battle

An exiled Russian scientist now living in Lochaber has won a court battle to remain in Scotland.

Fifty-eight-year-old Dr Alexander Shapovalov, who lives in the Highlands with his partner and their two young children, fled to Scotland in August 2015 after being accused of a £40,663 fraud. He was sentenced in his absence to 10 years’ imprisonment.

Russia had made two requests for the extradition of Dr Shapovalov – the former director general of the Scientific Centre of Applied Chemistry in St Petersburg – in September 2016 and August 2017.

Following a hearing in Edinburgh and 12 days of evidence, Sheriff Nigel Ross last Tuesday (June 12) refused both requests.

The sheriff said that extraditing him would be in breach of his human rights and found that Russia had abused the court process as the fraud charges were unfounded.

In his written judgement, he stated that it was a feature of the case that the Russian Federation provided very little evidence and he did not accept it as reliable.

He said there had been an unprofessional approach by Russia to give proper and full instruction to the Crown Office, with Russia withdrawing all co-operation for a period for no reason. This, he said ‘was inconsistent with the conduct expected of a responsible and well-governed state careful to observe its international obligations’.

Sheriff Ross said he treated the evidence of Dr Shapovalov as ‘accurate, credible and reliable’.

Dr Shapovalov had spent one year under house arrest before the trial in Russia started with the trial lasting another year, conducted in one two-hour sessions per month.

The evidence was largely written and ‘the statements suspiciously similar in appearance and content’.

Also the main witnesses did not attend court, despite summonses. The alleged fraud was not proven and Dr Shapovalov expected acquittal. At the end of the trial, however, the prosecutor was changed and the new prosecutor asked for a nine-year sentence.

One week before sentencing, Sheriff Ross said Dr Shapovalov ‘lost faith that he would be acquitted and faced a long period of custody in dreadful conditions’. He fled with his partner and child. She was pregnant with their second child and he was sentenced to 10 years’ custody in his absence.

Dr Shapovalov, said the sheriff, was clear in his view that the trial verdict was pre-determined.

Sheriff Ross said he accepted that the extradition proceedings amounted to an abuse of the court process and that they were founded to secure Dr Shapovalov’s presence in Russia and remove his assets.

‘In my view, it is proved that the prosecution is brought for reasons other than a genuine body of evidence showing guilt of the charges and is therefore an abuse both of the St Petersburg court and, by extension, of this court in making the request for extradition. I am therefore under a duty not to accede to the request for extradition.’

Taking into account the effect Dr Shapovalov’s extradition would have on his partner and two young children, Sheriff Ross stated: ‘This is a quite exceptionally compelling combination of features and would require extradition to be refused even in the face of a robust and principled extradition request, which latter point is open to severe doubt in the present case.’