Stati's and Marinescu's arrest and extradition are illegal: barrister

“The arrest and the subsequent extradition of Gabriel Stati and Aurel Marinescu were not operated legally, but through a political agreement, what is unacceptable in a state pretending to be based on the order of law,” stated Vitalie Nagacevschi, the lawyer of Gabriel Stati. According to Nagacevschi, the Serbian plane bound for Bucharest, in which Stati and Marinescu were on April 8, was held up on an airport in Odesa at 18.30, but the court warrants to arrest them were issued after 20.00, the same evening. “The Moldovan authorities misled their Ukrainian counterparts, maintaining there was an arrest warrant,” Nagacevschi specified. According to Nagacevschi, in the extradition request, the Moldovans invoked that Stati and Marinescu were charged over usurping the state power. What can be called a political offense. According to the European Convention on Extradition and the Bilateral Treaty between Moldova and Ukraine on legal assistance, the extradition for political reasons is forbidden. Stati and Marinescu asked for political asylum when arrested, but their requests were turned down. Taking those two out of Ukraine was done by breaching the decision of the Ukrainian judge, which provided they were to be detained till April 17. Stati and Marinescu were not informed about the extradition request and they were not offered to sue that request. Now, Gabriel Stati in Penitentiary 13 from Chisinau, single in room where the air temperature is 5-6 degrees. The lawyers' appeal will be judged on April 22 in the Chisinau Appellate Court. Stati's and Marinescu's lawyers have already lodged a complaint against Moldova with the European Court of Human Rights, asking “to state the illegal arrest.” According to them, those two are punished because of President Vladimir Voronin's hostility for the Stati family. Gabriel Stati and Aurel Marinescu are charged over usurping the state power and organizing mass disorders. They may get from 12 to 20 years in prison.