The Supreme Court of Montenegro has postponed the extradition of Terraform Labs founder Do Kwon to his home country of South Korea, pending a review of the legality of the previous court decisions.
This comes after the Supreme State Prosecutor’s Office (VDT) submitted a request to protect legality on August 2nd, proposing to delay the execution of the extradition orders issued by the High Court in Podgorica and the Court of Appeal.
Conflicting Rulings Plague Do Kwon Extradition Saga
According to local media reports, the panel, headed by Judge Seka Piletić, made the ruling in response to a request from the VDT, which raised concerns about whether the court’s previous decisions approving Do Kwon’s extradition to South Korea and rejecting his extradition to the United States were legal under Montenegro’s Law on International Legal Assistance in Criminal Matters.
“At today’s session of the council, a Decision was adopted which determines the postponement of the execution of the decision of the High Court in Podgorica and the Court of Appeal of Montenegro until the decision of the Supreme Court on the Request for the protection of legality, which will be made within the legal deadline,” the Supreme Court’s statement reads.
This latest development in the complex legal saga surrounding Do Kwon’s extradition is the culmination of a series of conflicting court rulings in Montenegro. In March 2023, Do Kwon was arrested at Podgorica airport while attempting to flee to Dubai with his business partner, Chang Jun, using fake passports.
The High Court in Podgorica initially ruled to extradite Do Kwon to the United States, but that decision was later overturned. The court then decided to approve his extradition to South Korea, a ruling subsequently upheld by the Court of Appeal.
However, the VDT’s request to protect legality has led the Supreme Court to intervene and postpone the extradition process.
Claims Of Abuse of Power
Per the report, Do Kwon’s defense attorney, Goran Radić, has criticized the VDT’s actions, stating that “revision of a final decision, which is in favor of the defendant, is not possible except with abuse of position.”
Radić also highlighted the “series of inconsistent legal decisions” in the case, accusing the authorities of prioritizing the “minister’s illegal private promise to extradite Kwon” over the proper application of the law and international agreements.
The case of Do Kwon dubbed the “mastermind” behind the collapse of the Terra/LUNA cryptocurrency ecosystem, estimated to have caused over $40 billion in losses to investors, has drawn significant attention and controversy.
His arrest and the subsequent legal battles in Montenegro over the past year have been intertwined with the political tensions between the former and current prime ministers, Dritan Abazović and Milojko Spajić.
At the time of writing, Luna Classic (LUNC), the blockchain’s native token, is trading at $0.00006896, up 5.4% in the last 24 hours as the broader crypto market has partially recovered from Monday’s crash.
Featured image from DALL-E, chart from TradingView.com
