The suspected mastermind of the Nord Stream pipeline explosions has been extradited from Italy to Germany, judicial sources told dpa on Thursday.
The 49-year-old Ukrainian national was transferred to German police after three months in Italian custody, where he spent most of his time in a high-security prison in Ferrara.
He also went on hunger strike for several days due to alleged mistreatment.
The suspect was flown to Germany by helicopter under the supervision of German authorities. On Friday, he is set to appear before a judge in Karlsruhe, where the Federal Public Prosecutor’s Office is based. An arrest warrant is expected to be issued.
The Ukrainian national is then to stand trial in Germany, with Hamburg currently under consideration as the venue.
An extended legal battle over the extradition was settled in Italy’s highest court last week.
German prosecutors accuse the man of jointly causing the explosions on the Baltic Sea gas pipelines in 2022.
He is said to have coordinated a team of seven suspects who planted explosive devices on the gas pipelines in the Baltic Sea in September 2022. The attacks made headlines around the world.
The explosions damaged both the Nord Stream 1 and the Nord Stream 2 pipelines so severely that no gas could be transported through them.
No one has yet been brought to justice for the attacks on the former German-Russian project. Six other suspects in the case remain at large, while Poland has refused to extradite another Ukrainian suspect to Germany.
The suspect was detained while on holiday with his wife and children in Italy at the end of August. He is believed to have travelled to various European countries several times before without drawing the attention of law enforcement.
A suspected mastermind of the attacks on the Nord Stream gas pipelines is led by officers to be transferred from Italy to Germany. He is to be brought before the investigating judge of the German Court of Justice in Karlsruhe for trial. Uli Deck/dpa