Polish court backs extradition of Russian in casino case

A Polish court on Wednesday gave a green light for the extradition to Russia of a former senior Moscow prosecutor caught up in a scandal in his homeland over an illegal gambling ring.

“After considering the case-file which was provided by Russian authorities, the court has decided that extradition can go ahead,” Bogdan Kijak, spokesman for the regional tribunal in the southern city of Nowy Sacz, told AFP.

“The court also extended Alexander Ignatenko’s preliminary detention period until June 9,” he added.

Kijak said that Ignatenko’s legal team had already announced it would appeal against the court’s decision.

Even if the ruling against Ignatenko is upheld, the final decision on handing him over to Russia will lie with Poland’s justice minister.

Former Moscow region prosecutor Ignatenko has been behind bars since his arrest last month by Poland’s ABW intelligence service in the resort district of Zakopane in the mountainous south of the country.

Arrested on a Russian warrant, he was initially ordered by Polish authorities to be detained for 40 days pending a decision.

Russia’s FSB security service last year said it had uncovered an illegal gambling operation spanning 15 towns and turning over up to $10 million (13 million euros) per month under the protection of prosecutors.

Ignatenko went on the run after he and Eduard Kaplun, a prosecutor from the city of Klin outside Moscow, were fired last April as part of the fallout from the case.

Two weeks ago, Ignatenko’s successor in charge of the Moscow region announced that the authorities had fired 14 employees in municipal and district prosecutor offices.

Investigation of the complex case, which involves a chain of underground casinos, is continuing.

Casinos were banned in Russia in 2009, with the only exception being for four relatively isolated territories in the vast country.