Europe Forces Out the US

On April 30, 2015, a court in Austria refused to extradite Ukrainian citizen Dmytro Firtash to the USA. Enough time has gone by already to impassively analyze the Viennese regional court’s decision.

Obviously, the tactics Firtash used to protect himself will long be analyzed in detail in Austria, Ukraine, the USA, and the whole world. Lawyers will work most of all in order to learn and implement lessons from the proceedings for their own practices. Nothing about this is surprising, since Firtash effectively used every tactic available to him in his defense.

It’s also plain that it won’t really matter anywhere whom the defendant mentioned – and failed to mention – during the proceedings, whether or not they say anything in their defense, especially in Ukraine.

However, two things cannot go unnoticed: First, the Viennese regional court demonstrated that it is independent. It’s no one’s vassal, and America’s wish is not its command. Whether or not that’s the case is not for us Ukrainians to judge, but one thing is clear: This would have been unthinkable in the bipolar world of 20 to 25 years ago. Back then, America’s every whim was accepted and carried out without question, especially in Europe. Now Austria (read Europe) is doing and will do whatever is in its best interests, without paying attention to how the other side of the planet reacts. And it’s normal. It would be nice if the interests of Ukrainian citizens, the government, etc. were so highly valued here. On the other hand, by its actions little Austria is forcing America to deal more thoroughly with any discourses.

Second, no one can say that Austria isn’t fighting global corruption. After all, no one’s denying the Austrian appeals court or supreme court the opportunity to honor the U.S. extradition request. If at that time Firtash isn’t in Austria, then Vienna won’t be to blame. He can go wherever he likes.