Former SBU general Andrei Naumov, whose extradition Ukraine sought, may be released from custody in Serbia in December.
BBC Ukraine reports this.
It is indicated that the trial of Naumov in the city of Nis in southern Serbia lasted more than a year.
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In March 2022, the Ukrainian authorities called him a traitor, opened several criminal cases, stripped him of the rank of brigadier general, and also put him on the international wanted list.
He later ended up in Serbia, where he was caught with undeclared cash. A Serbian court refused to extradite Andrei Naumov to Ukraine and sent him to prison for a year for money laundering.
— Considering that the ex-SBU official has already been in a pre-trial detention center for more than a year, he has practically served this sentence and will soon be released. According to our data, this could happen as early as early December,” the report says.
According to the publication, one of the arguments in refusing to extradite Naumov was an appeal from Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky, who called Naumov a “traitor.”
At the height of a full-scale war, Naumov’s name began to be associated with the case of high treason against the former head of the Crimean SBU Oleg Kulinich.
Kulinich was detained in July 2022, he was charged with creating a criminal organization, treason, desertion, kidnapping and illegal handling of weapons. His case is already being considered by the court.
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According to investigators, Kulinich, on instructions from the Russian special services, lobbied at the beginning of 2020 for the appointment of Andrei Naumov to a high position in the SBU. The State Bureau of Investigation then stated that Naumov had the call sign Okhotnik and he could also be connected with the Russian special services.
“At the same time, in the public space they began to call Naumov a “traitor,” although there is still no case of treason against him. In addition, according to the SBI’s response to our request in July 2023, Naumov does not appear at all in the Kulinich case, and some representatives of the investigation, on condition of anonymity, told us that the version about Naumov the Okhotnik was hasty,” the report says.
However, there are other proceedings against him related to economic crimes.
According to documents in the extradition case, Naumov stated during court hearings that the charges against him in Ukraine were baseless and politically motivated. And he fears for his life if he returns.
Journalists note that, according to the court decision, Serbia refused to extradite Naumov precisely because of the investigation by Ukrainian law enforcement officers of his possible treason, which can be regarded as “political persecution.” It also mentions previous attempts on the life of an official and Zelensky’s appeal.
“It was taken into account not only that the President of Ukraine called the defendant a traitor in a public address to the public, but also deprived him of the rank of brigadier general without explanation,” the court decision says, with an emphasis on the violation of the presumption of innocence.
Such a statement by Zelensky regarding Naumov, according to the court, was biased and prompted society to believe that he was a traitor even before the court’s decision. And this “threatens his safety in the event of extradition.”
“Our sources in the investigation claim that the State Bureau of Investigation has been checking Naumov for more than a year and they do not charge him with treason because there is not enough evidence,” the BBC added.
