Quote:A court in Poland has decided not to extradite Russian Denis Lisov, who fled with his children out of the Scandinavian country, to Sweden.

The decision of the Polish court says that the warrant for the arrest of Lisov, issued by Sweden, violates his civil rights since Lisov was pushed “to a wall, his children were taken away and the impossible conditions for their return were pushed forward.”

In 2017 the Swedish authorities took the children from their father when their mother with schizophrenia was taken to hospital. The guardianship clarified that the man could not cope with the education of their daughters.

The children were placed in a foster family of people from Lebanon.

In March 2019, Lisov took his 12, 6, and 4-year-old daughters, and in April he was detained with them at the airport in Warsaw while on their way to Russia.

According to a psychologist’s opinion, the children are very closely attached to their father and want to live with him.

“They did not feel safe in the foster family, which might have deepened their stress and result in disorders”, said the judge, adding that “the father was unable to watch this and the Swedish authorities’ actions violated the children’s good. The Swedish authorities’ actions glaringly disregarded the sensitivity of children coming from a Russian-European family.”

According to the family’s attorney, the fact that the children were placed in a Muslim family of Lebanese origin despite being raised in the Christian faith was also an important factor in Mr Lisov’s decision to escape Sweden taking them with him.

Now Denis Lisov is awaiting consideration of his application for refugee status in Poland. The children are under his care.

By a court decision, the relevant law enforcement agencies will receive a request and the international search will be removed from Denis in the near future.

According to the court decision, not a single European country will extradite Lisov, arrest will be threatened only in Sweden.

“I am very pleased with this verdict. We have saved the family. Lisov is a father, not a criminal. Everyone in Poland: the guardianship authorities, the prosecutor’s office, the police, the border guards were against the separation of the family and did not allow this possibility”, said the attorney.

Lisov himself in conversation with RT did not hide his joy, although, according to him, he was very worried until the last moment.
He said that he was pleased with the verdict and would now wait for a decision on obtaining a residence permit in Poland.

The Russian expects that his daughters will go to kindergarten and school in Warsaw already in September.

“Now the Swedish side has the opportunity to appeal the court’s ruling, but we hope that they will not do that”, he concluded.

If extradited Denis Lisov faces four years in prison in Sweden.