Britain extradites first Russian in 100 years

For the first time in a hundred years, Britain extradited a Russian murder suspect upon request from the Russian authorities.

“At the request of the Russian Prosecutor General’s Office, the British authorities extradited Russian citizen Maxim Vintskevich,” said Marina Gridneva, spokeswoman for the Prosecutor General’s Office.

Vintskevich, 32, had been “wanted” since 2005, when he fled Russia after allegedly beating a man to death in St. Petersburg.

He was found residing in Britain in 2011. The Russian authorities sent an extradition request to the British Home Office in January 2012.

London has sanctioned the extradition of several Russians since 2006, when a memorandum on cooperation between the Russian General Prosecutor’s Office and the Attorney General for England and Wales was signed, but these decisions were never implemented.

Moscow has often complained that London was unwilling to extradite Russians accused of various crimes at home, including self-exiled businessmen Yevgeny Chichvarkin and Boris Berezovsky.

British authorities claim this happens because of the poor quality of cases brought by Russian prosecutors.

–IANS/RIA Novosti

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