Filenews 2 August 2025
A battle of lawyers from Cyprus to prevent the extradition of a Ukrainian politician from the United Kingdom to his homeland.
We are talking about Oleksandr Granovski, a former MP. The Cyprus Democratic Lawyers Association (CDLA), an independent legal initiative, supports Granovski and includes the Ukrainian authorities' request for his extradition in an attempt to politically exterminate him.
On the basis of the arguments, the independent legal initiative speaks of "politically orchestrated prosecution", "falsified evidence", and "trial that does not meet European standards of justice".
In the previous days, a Cypriot delegation was in Kiev for the purposes of the case. The lawyer Stylianos Michael and the journalist Giorgos Tattis traveled to the Ukrainian capital.
This mission was carried out on behalf of a subcommittee of the Council of Europe (PACE), which investigates cases of transnational repression, while it is also part of the action of the pan-European organization in which the Association of Democratic Lawyers of Cyprus (CDLA) participates, the "European Federation of Lawyers for Democracy and Global Human Rights".
Cypriot MP Kostis Efstathiou will author a relevant report/report for the PACE subcommittee with an emphasis on transnational repression, which will include various political persecutions by governments in European states, which allegedly violate fundamental human rights, such as the right to a fair trial. Other cases will include the prosecution of Ukrainian Alexander Granovsky, Kurdish militant Kenan Ayias after his extradition to Germany from Cyprus, as well as cases of persecution of dissidents in Turkey, Russia and elsewhere.
It should be noted that the CDLA is a recognized member of the European Democratic Lawyers (EDL) alliance, known in Greek as Avocats Européens Démocrates, which brings together democratic legal organizations from all over Europe.
It was founded by a group of lawyers as a platform for public debate on issues of public interest, while operating on the principles of democracy, freedom, human rights, equality and the rule of law with European standards.
A CDLA press release notes the following about the case of Oleksandr Granovski:
The case of Oleksandr Granovsky, a former Ukrainian MP and reformer, who is now facing extradition proceedings in the United Kingdom, is a model of transnational repression under the guise of legal cooperation.
What began as politically motivated persecution in Ukraine has become a test for Europe in terms of the protection of human rights, the independence of the judiciary and the integrity of extradition law under the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR).
In 2022, Ukraine began to suspect Oleksandr Granovsky in connection with a criminal case that was initially opened in 2015. In 2025, the United Kingdom started extradition procedures following a request. The British prosecutor did not call for Granovski's arrest. Instead, both the prosecutor and Granowski's defense applied for bail, which was approved by Westminster Magistrates' Court.
Two leading reports by international experts—former European Court of Human Rights judge Paulo Pinto de Albuquerque and former head of British Prosecutors Lord Macdonald KC—have since exposed the legal inadequacy and political expediency behind the Ukrainian request.
1. Arbitrary Detention and Fabricated Categories
In his report, Professor Pinto de Albuquerque concludes that the Ukrainian arrest warrant and pre-trial detention order are arbitrary under Article 5 of the ECHR. It points out that the financial charges against Oleksandr Granovsky are based on evidence that has already been rejected by Ukrainian administrative and criminal courts, such as the Odessa Administrative Court, the Pechersk Kiev Regional Court, and finally the Supreme Court of Ukraine.
Professor Pinto also points out that illegal surveillance techniques, including illegal access to an iCloud account, violated Granowski's right to privacy (Article 8 ECHR).
Granowski's defense secured evidence that WhatsApp messages from the iCloud account had been tampered with. The falsification was confirmed by internationally recognized experts from several countries:
- Israel: Prof. Dr. Colonel (ret.) Gabi Simboni, former Director of the Strategic Studies Program.
- United Kingdom: Jan Collie (evidence expert in Parliament) and Dr. Paul Hunton, former technical specialist with 18 years' experience in British law enforcement.
- Austria: Dr. Horst Eidenberger, Sworn Expert with certifications from Austria and the International Criminal Court (The Hague).
2. Parody of Court Proceedings in Ukraine
In their joint opinion, Lord Macdonald KC and Tim James-Matthews describe the judicial process in Ukraine as materially flawed under Article 6 of the ECHR. Their conclusions are revealing:
- The Supreme Anti-Repressive Court of Ukraine copied almost 38% of its decision from the prosecutor's proposal. Dr. Paul Hunton identified "multiple pages of identical text, punctuation, misspellings, and repeated phrases," and concluded that the court transcript had been copied verbatim from an electronic version of the prosecution's proposal.
- The court ignored the expertise that documented the falsification, including reports from Ukrainian state bodies and international experts.
- It dismissed concerns about illegal surveillance as "classified", without legal or evidentiary justification.
- It rejected requests for defence, including objections to the bias of the presiding judge.
Experts describe a system where the independence of the judiciary has been undermined, procedural rights are violated, and the presumption of innocence is overturned in practice.
3. The Role of the United Kingdom: A Test of Democratic Credibility
Now, the British legal system is called upon to decide whether to allow extradition to a country where the wanted person faces politically orchestrated prosecution, falsified evidence, and trial that does not meet European standards of justice.
The United Kingdom, bound by the ECHR and the Extradition Act 2003, has a legal and moral obligation to refuse extradition if there is a real risk of inhuman treatment, arbitrary detention or flagrant denial of justice. In the present case, all three risks have been substantiated with irrefutable evidence.
4. Why This Case Applies to the Whole of Europe
The case of Oleksandr Granovsky is not an isolated injustice. It is part of a wider phenomenon of abuse of legal mechanisms for political revenge—a growing practice that the Council of Europe recognizes as transnational repression. States are increasingly using judicial cooperation tools (such as INTERPOL notices, extradition requests, legal assistance) to prosecute dissidents, journalists, former officials and exiles.
If democratic countries such as the United Kingdom legitimize such political actions through extradition, it will send a dangerous message: that international law can be violated and that the European human rights system is selectively applicable.
Inference
The Democratic Association of Lawyers of Cyprus (CDLA) expresses its solidarity with the lawyers of Europe who are resisting the legalization of injustice. The Granowski case is much more than a bilateral extradition case—it is a test of the rule of law in Europe.
We call on the British authorities and their European partners to resist political pressure and to defend the fundamental guarantees of the European Convention on Human Rights.
Justice should never be entrusted to regimes that abuse it.
