Sweden has detained former Ukrainian MP from the Party of Regions Dmytro Svyatash, whom a Ukrainian court sentenced in absentia to 12 years in prison for justifying Russian aggression and financial crimes. The politician is now in a migration center and is trying to secure his release.
This was reported on Tuesday, October 27, by the Swedish outlet Expressen.
According to journalists, 55-year-old Svyatash arrived in Sweden on Thursday, October 22. He was stopped by border police officers during passport control at Arlanda Airport near Stockholm.
The former deputy, who holds Ukrainian and Russian citizenship, presented a Ukrainian passport. However, border guards determined that he is subject to an entry ban into the Schengen area.
According to lawyer Mark Safaryan, the restriction was imposed by Poland, and the relevant information was entered into the common information system of Schengen Agreement countries.
After his detention, Svyatash was placed in a migration center in Märsta, near Stockholm.
The lawyer claims that the former deputy came to Sweden solely to attend a concert by American musician Stevie Wonder. According to him, Svyatash did not intend to stay in the country and planned to return to Russia.
The defense appealed the decision to hold the politician in custody. In the appeal, the lawyer stated that there are no sufficient grounds for further detention of his client.
On Tuesday, October 27, the migration court refused to hold an oral hearing in the case. The defense was given until the morning of Wednesday, October 28, to submit final written submissions. After that, the court is expected to make a decision.
Safaryan also said that his client opposes possible extradition to Ukraine. The lawyer believes that transferring Svyatash to Ukrainian law enforcement would contradict Sweden's existing judicial practice.
In particular, he referred to a decision by the Supreme Court of Sweden from October 2023. The court then found that extraditing one of the individuals sought by Ukraine under wartime conditions could violate Article 3 of the European Convention on Human Rights due to risks related to detention conditions.
However, that decision concerned a different case and does not mean an automatic ban on Svyatash's extradition. There is no public confirmation that Ukraine has already sent a request for his extradition to Sweden.
The former deputy himself declined to comment in detail on his detention in a conversation with Expressen journalists until consulting with his lawyer.
Dmytro Svyatash was a member of the Verkhovna Rada of the IV–VIII convocations, representing the Kharkiv region. Over the years, he was part of the Party of Regions faction and the parliamentary group "Revival."
In 2019, he left Ukraine and moved to Russia. Subsequently, Ukrainian law enforcement agencies investigated his activities related to both support for Russian aggression and financial fraud.
In June 2024, the Pechersk District Court of Kyiv sentenced Svyatash to 12 years in prison with confiscation of property.
The court found him guilty of public calls to change the borders of Ukraine, justifying the Russian invasion, fraud, use of forged documents, and legalization of property obtained through crime.
According to the Ukrainian prosecutor's office, in 2022 Svyatash disseminated posts on social media that denied Russian aggression and justified the occupation of Ukrainian territories. He also called on residents of captured settlements to cooperate with the occupation authorities and Russian banks.
A separate episode of the criminal case concerned bank loans. The investigation established that in 2008–2014 companies beneficially owned by Svyatash received loans totaling more than $50 million, but the obligations to the bank were not fulfilled.
Subsequently, using forged documents, the suspect re-registered the collateral property to controlled entities. According to the prosecutor's office, the damage to the company that bought the bank debts amounted to approximately 2.2 billion hryvnias.
The court proceedings in Ukraine were held in absentia, as Svyatash was outside the country.
Swedish authorities are currently considering the legality of his continued detention in the migration center. A decision on possible deportation or transfer of the former deputy to Ukraine has not yet been announced.
