MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 05th May, 2022) The Ukrainian Security Service (SBU) said on Thursday that Ukrainian blogger and political activist Anatoly Sharij, suspected of treason, had been detained in Spain.
"Pro-Russian blogger Anatoly Sharij, whom the SBU suspects of high treason, was detained in Spain," the security service said on Telegram.
The SBU added that Sharij was detained by Spanish law enforcement officers in close cooperation with the Ukrainian special services.
The Spanish National Police confirmed to Sputnik that Sharij had been detained on an international warrant in the city of Tarragona in northeastern Spain, but declined to provide further comments on the circumstances of the case.
Later in the day, Ukrainian newspaper Segodnya reported, citing the country's law enforcement officials, that Sharij may be extradited to Ukraine and that International Criminal Police Organization was also involved into the search of the Ukrainian blogger.
Sharij, who has been released but faces travel restrictions, may face a life sentence under the new Ukrainian laws on treason, signed by Volodymyr Zelenskyy in April.
Gonzalo Boye, a Spanish lawyer known for protecting the interests of the former head of the Catalan government, Carles Puigdemont, will be defending the Ukrainian political activist in court, the Europa Press news agency said. Puigdemont left Spain after an attempt to hold a referendum on the region's independence in October 2017.
The deputy head of Russia's foreign cooperation agency Rossotrudnichestvo, Natalia Poklonskaya, said that the decision on Sharij's fate is illegal and politicized, and that, as a journalist, he should be granted political asylum.
"This decision is completely illegal and politicized, intended for threatening those who are still capable of having their own opinion, which differs from official versions," Poklonskaya said on Telegram.
Sharij is the founder of the political Party of Sharij, whose activities were stopped by the decision of the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine after the start of the Russian special military operation in Ukraine.
