Albanian court refuses to extradite Russian blogger

ELBASAN, Albania (Reuters) – A court in Albania decided on Friday not to extradite a Russian self-proclaimed blogger arrested last August on spying charges, who faces similar charges in Moscow.

Svetlana Timofeeva, 34, was arrested with another Russian and a Ukrainian in August 2022 on charges of entering a former military factory some 80 km (50 miles) from the capital Tirana.

“The court has decided not to accept the request form Russian authorities for extradition from the Republic of Albania to Russia Federation of the Russian citizen Svetlana Timofeeva,” judge Elis Dine said in announcing the ruling. Timofeeva smiled as the verdict was translated to her in Russian.

Timofeeva has denied charges of espionage by Albanian prosecutors, saying her only desire in entering the former military base was to film abandoned buildings from the Cold War era and that there was no sign suggesting no trespassing.

She faces similar charges in Moscow and last month Timofeeva asked for asylum in a bid to escape extradition to Russia.

The court ruling reversed an earlier decision by the Albanian Ministry of Justice to extradite her.

Albania, along with most European countries, joined the European Union in imposing sanctions on Russia for invading Ukraine.

“The Russian state is a country that does not guarantee any basic human rights… The case of which Svetlana Timofeeva was asked to be extradited was a made-up case,” her lawyer Fatmir Lushi said in welcoming the decision.

Known as Lana Sator, Timofeeva has more than 250,000 followers on her Instagram page where for years she has posted photos of abandoned buildings, including forgotten, old and rusted military installations.

(Reporting by Florion Goga; writing by Fatos Bytyci; editing by Jonathan Oatis)