Montenegro’s Constitutional Court has delayed the extradition of Do Kwon yet again following an appeal from Kwon, suspending the Supreme Court’s ruling that left the Minister of Justice with the final say.
According to the Constitutional Court of Montenegro website, the court has approved a request to defer the execution of his extradition process, “until the final decision of the Constitutional Court.”
Montenegrin daily newspaper Dan reports that Kwon’s legal team made this request after filing an appeal on September 25 against the Supreme Court’s ruling. The Ministry of Justice was reportedly only made aware of this appeal on Friday.
It claims to have suspended the Supreme Court’s September 19 ruling and in turn suspended the final decision of his extradition permit, to either South Korea or the US, which was to be made by the Minister of Justice Bojan Božović.
Read more: Do Kwon extradition already decided by Montenegro Justice Minister
In full, the court decision reads, “The request for the suspension of execution is APPROVED and the execution of the judgment of the Supreme Court of Montenegro, is SUSPENDED, from September 19, 2024, and the decision-making procedure on the permission to extradite the applicant of the constitutional appeal to the DHK, until the final decision of the Constitutional Court.”
The Ministry of Justice reportedly said, “We ask that the Constitutional Court act in this case as soon as possible and that in the future it informs us about it without delay, so that we can continue the activities started in the specific case.”
On Thursday, Božović said he had decided where to extradite Kwon to and that the location would be revealed by the end of the week. Today’s announcement means it is the third time a decision on Kwon’s extradition has been paused. It also marks his sixth submitted appeal.
The Supreme Court had concluded in September that previous rulings from the High Court and Appellate Court were illegal.
