Vilnius Court denies receiving appeal on Ustinov’s extradition to US

The court has not received an appeal against its decision to extradite to the United States Russian citizen Dmitry Ustinov, suspected of arms trafficking, press secretary of the Vilnius District Court Gintautas Stalnenis said on Friday. On July 22, the court made a decision on Ustinov’s extradition. “An appeal may be filed until July 29,” he said. “It may be filed within business hours on Monday the latest. As yet, no appeal has been filed.” According to the procedures, the district court considers an appeal against its decision as well as compliance of the docuemtn with the legal norms, and, should everything comply with the law, within several days it passes the appeal to the Court of Appeal. Ustinov, 47, was detained in May upon arrival at Vilnius’ airport and put in jail by court order. The U.S. Department of Justice then requested Lithuania’s legal assistance in prosecuting him. On March 26, the US authorities issued an arrest warrant for Ustinov. He is suspected of illegally trading in night vision equipment, thermal imagery devices and other dual purpose gadgetry that is actively purchased by rebels and criminal gangs. Ustinov’s arms sales might have purportedly exceeded 180,000 US dollars.