Passport details of Vladislav Liulkov, who is accused of secretly filming Ghanaian women
The Russian Embassy in Ghana has promised to assist with investigations into the allegation against one of its citizens, Vladislav Liulkov, who is accused of secretly filming sexual encounters he had with scores of Ghanaian women.
Following an engagement with Russian embassy, it emerged that the widely circulated name of the Russian man at the centre of the controversy, ‘Yaytseslav’ was merely a pen name.
The government of Ghana released Vladislav’s passport details, confirming his real identity as a Russian called Vladislav Liulkov.
Will these developments make a difference in the government’s quest to get the accused person extradited to Ghana to face prosecution?
Some diplomatic experts have indicated that an move by Ghana to get Liulkov extradited to Ghana would not yield any fruit.
These experts have pointed to Article 61(1) of the Russian Federation’s Constitution, which explicitly states: “A citizen of the Russian Federation may not be deported from Russia or extradited to another state.”
What has the precedent been? Here is what happened when the United States (US) and the United Kingdom (UK) asked Russia to extradite a citizen.
Extradition request for Andrey Lugovoy:
In 2007, Russia declined a UK request to extradite Andrey Lugovoy, a citizen of Russia, who was the main suspect in the poisoning of former Russian spy Alexander Litvinenko in London.
The federation cited Article 61(1) of its constitution, saying that it bars the extradition of Russian citizens to foreign states.
It rather offered to prosecute Lugovoy domestically if the UK supplied sufficient evidence. The British government, however, rejected the offer.
Passport details of Russian man linked to online controversy released
Extradition request for Edward Snowden:
In 2013, the US government requested the extradition of Edward Snowden, a former NSA contractor wanted on espionage charges, from the federation.
The Russian government rejected the extradition request, saying that there were no legal grounds to extradite Snowden, who is an American citizen.
Russian President Vladimir Putin bluntly rejected US pleas to extradite the National Security Agency leaker, saying that Snowden is free to travel wherever he wants and insisting that Russian security agencies have not contacted him.
Drawing from the above cases, attempts by the government to get Russia to extradite Vladislav Liulkov to face justice in Ghana for the crimes he has been accused of would be a daunting task.
If the US and the UK, two of the most powerful countries in the world, could not get Russia to extradite its citizen, it certainly would be a tall order for Ghana.
BAI/VPO
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