GENEVA, May 4 (RIA Novosti, Ekaterina Andrianova) - Evgeni Adamov, recent Russia's Nuclear Energy Minister, has refused to undergo a simplified extradition procedure, says Folko Galli of Switzerland's Federal Department of Justice.
Mr. Adamov, 65, currently in Swiss detention, was questioned today, and flatly refused to be extradited to the USA on swindling and money laundering suspicions. Now, Switzerland intends to demand from the United States a formal extradition application. The procedure usually takes forty days, and is occasionally prolonged to sixty, Mr. Galli said to Novosti.
If Switzerland determines to extradite him, the suspect can appeal to its Federal Court, whose verdict will be final. Mr. Adamov is also free to change his mind and concede to extradition, added our informant.
Russia's Nuclear Energy Minister in 1998-2001, Evgeni Adamov was detained in Bern, Monday night, on an inquiry from the US Department of Justice, his arrest being warranted by Pennsylvania's west district court.
US judiciary is accusing Adamov of misappropriating up to nine million dollars the US Department of Energy allocated to Russia to step up its nuclear safety.
As the latest news has it, the Russian Embassy to Switzerland has not for now received a reply to its application for Russian diplomats to contact Adamov. The reply is expected tonight or Thursday morning.
"We want to see now whether he can freely see us - and to know what he himself has to say about the controversy," Igor Petrov, ambassadorial press attache, said to Novosti.
