Montenegro Revokes Do Kwon’s Extradition Approval

An Appellate Court in Montenegro accepts Do Kwon’s appeal against a High Court’s decision that approved his extradition.

by Brian Danga. Fact checked by: Ciaran Lawler, Editor: Nazar Kuzmyn

Published: February 8, 2024 │ 2:38 PM GMT

Do Kwon Staring at planet Earth in outter space. — *Created by Gabor Kovacs from DailyCoin*

Do Kwon has scored a win in his extradition appeal.
The Terraform Labs co-founder has been in detention since March last year.
Two countries have filed requests for his extradition.

Terraform Labs co-founder Do Kown has won another chance to fight his extradition from Montenegro to the U.S. or South Korea.

Do Kwon has been in detention in Montenegro since March last year after he was arrested along with Han Chang-joon, Terraform Labs’ former finance officer, as they tried to travel from Podgorica to Dubai using falsified Costa Rican and Belgian passports.

Do Kwon’s Extradition Request Revoked

According to a press release dated February 8, the Montenegro Court of Appeals has annulled a December 29 decision of the High Court in Podgorica that approved Do Kwon’s extradition to the U.S. or South Korea.

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While the Appellate Court established that the legal prerequisites for extraditing Do Kwon to face criminal prosecution at the request of South Korea and the pleas of the U.S. had been met, it faulted the High Court’s decision for violating various provisions of Article 386 of the CPC.

“Namely, the first-instance court did not take into account that in this particular case it is a shortened extradition procedure in which the court, in accordance with Article 29 of the Law on International Legal Assistance in Criminal Matters, and not the Minister of Justice, unlike the regular procedure, makes a decision on extradition,” the statement read.

The Appellate Court further ruled that the High Court failed to “determine in an unquestionable manner the order of arrival of the petitions of the Republic of South Korea and the United States of America” to extradite Do Kwon.

Based on these grounds, the Appellate Court accepted Do Kwon’s second appeal, sending the case back to the High Court for reconsideration.