With decision of the Federal Ministry of Justice and not the Federal Prosecutor General, the suspension of the execution of the sentence of Vadim Krashikov, who was serving a life sentence for the murder of Georgian Zelimkhan Kangoshvili in Berlin in 2019, was carried out on the orders of the Russian FSB service. This was clarified by the representative of the ministry shortly after the historic prisoner exchange between Russia and the West.
“The federal prosecutor general is primarily responsible for suspending the execution of sentences. However, last Monday, the federal justice ministry gave a written order to the federal prosecutor general to suspend the execution of Vadim Krasikov’s sentence in order to allow for the exchange of prisoners,” the spokesman said.
“The government did not take the decision lightly”
In turn, government representative Stephen Heberstreit stated that “The federal government did not take this decision lightly. The state’s interest in imposing a prison sentence on a convicted criminal was outweighed by the freedom, physical health and, in some cases, the lives of innocent people imprisoned in Russia and people unjustly imprisoned for political reasons.”
An important motivation was “the obligation to protect German citizens” and solidarity with the US, Mr Hebstreit continued, and expressed the hope that “all those released today will recover from the physical and psychological torture close to their families and friends”.
Source: AMPE
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