A Georgian volunteer fighter in Ukraine declared wanted by Russia has been released from custody in Armenia, after a court ruled his extradition to Russia would put his life at risk.
Giorgi Kinoiani had been sentenced to seven years in prison in absentia by a court in Russian-occupied Donetsk, Ukraine, according to Georgian news outlet Civil.ge. He volunteered to fight alongside the Georgian National Legion following Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
The news of his release was announced by Ani Chatinyan, a lawyer for the Helsinki Citizens’ Assembly — Vanadzor, an Armenian human rights group. Chatinyan said the case was ‘unusual’ because the extradition request stemmed from a non-democratic entity, the court in Donetsk.
Kinoiani was arrested at the Armenian-Georgian border in September. Armenian Interior Ministry spokesperson Narek Sargsyan later said the arrest was due to Kinoiani being on an ‘interstate wanted list issued by Russia for mercenary activities’.
Russia considers the Georgian National Legion a terrorist group, and its soldiers as mercenaries — despite the legion being officially integrated into the Ukrainian Army.
Shortly after Kinoiani’s detention, the head of the Helsinki Citizens’ Assembly — Vanadzor, Artur Sakunts, told CivilNet the arrest set a ‘dangerous precedent’ and was a ‘big international scandal’.
The Armenian court, by accepting the decision of the Russian-occupied Donetsk authorities, ‘ignored’ the fact that it was not a member of the UN and the republic was not recognised by Armenia either, CivilNet quoted Sakunts as saying.
Armenia has not recognised the occupied territories of Ukraine as part of Russia or their independence; on the contrary, Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan reiterated his stance in February 2024 that ‘Armenia is not Russia’s ally in the matter of Ukraine’.
Despite being formally allied with Russia, Armenia has repeatedly abstained on votes in the UN concerning the invasion. In 2022, Armenia abstained in a vote to suspend Russia from the UN Human Rights Council and in condemning the invasion in a separate vote in the UN General Assembly. Armenia also opted to abstain on a resolution condemning Russia’s illegal annexation of the Donetsk, Kherson, Luhansk, and Zaporizhzhia regions of Ukraine.
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