Premier Giorgia Meloni said Saturday
the government would clear up "anomalies" in the case of Artem
Uss, a 40-year-old Russian businessman who escaped house arrest
near Milan last month to dodge US extradition for alleged arms
smuggling.
Speaking on a trip to Ethiopia, Meloni said she backed Justice
Minister Carlo Nordio's decision to send in inspectors to see
why Uss, the son of a Siberian governor close to Russian
President Vladimir Putin, had been moved from pretrial custody
in prison to house arrest, where he broke his electronic ankle
tag and escaped, reportedly with the help of Russian
intelligence operatives, on March 22.
"The fact is certainly quite serious, I will speak with minister
Nordio when I get back to understand how things went, there are
certainly anomalies," Meloni told a press conference after her
trip to Ethiopia.
"I believe the main anomaly is the appeals court's decision to
keep him under house arrest for questionable reasons and to
maintain the decision even after there had been a ruling (in
favour of) his extradition: so I think the minister was right to
start a disciplinary action and therefore we'll have to clear
things up".
Italy's justice ministry had the power to request that Uss
remain in prison while awaiting extradition to the United
States, the Milan court of appeal has said in a report on the
case, sources said Friday.
Uss fled Italy To Russia after learning of the approval of his
extradition to the US, where he was facing up to 30 years in
prison on charges of sanctions evasion and money laundering.
Uss, who was wanted in the US for allegedly smuggling military
technology, is now in Russia, the Ria Novosti news agency
reported last week.
Justice Minister Nordio has requested clarification on the
handling of the case.
The Milan court of appeal ruled that Uss could go from jail to
house arrest on November 25 and that order was executed on
December 2, with the attachment of an electronic ankle tag.
In the report, the court said prosecutors could have challenged
the decision and that the ministry could also have requested
that Uss be jailed at any moment.
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