Last week, the German Federal Supreme Court (BGH) rejected suspect Serhii K's request to enjoy "combat privileges" in the Nord Stream sabotage.
Serhii K is accused of participating in a plot to rent a yacht, dive into the Baltic Sea and bomb the Nord Stream gas pipeline in September 2022. This suspect was arrested in Italy and extradited to Germany at the end of last year.
Serhii K's lawyer argued that, according to international law, the Ukrainian client is acting like a soldier attacking the enemy's infrastructure. The Nord Stream and Nord Stream 2 gas pipelines transport Russian gas to Germany.
The Nord Stream sabotage caused Germany to find ways to ensure sufficient fuel to keep warm in the winter and caused gas prices in this country to skyrocket. This is also the reason why the Nord Stream gas pipeline was considered a civil infrastructure by the German Federal Supreme Court, so Serhii K's appeal was rejected.
In addition, the court noted that the international law mentioned does not apply to secret activities, in cases where there is no evidence, such as military uniforms or direct written orders, to prove that saboteurs act on behalf of state entities.
Therefore, the Ukrainian suspect will still be tried for "violation of internal security of the Federal Republic of Germany" and infringement of German sovereignty, and may even be investigated for war crimes for attacking civil infrastructure.
Currently, the German court "temporarily assumes that this action was initiated by the Ukrainian state government". However, Jens Ferner - a German criminal lawyer who wrote about this case - warned that without access to comprehensive intelligence data and independent investigations, the German judicial system is not fully ready to rule on the origin of the Nord Stream sabotage and this could weaken public trust in the court. He proposed that the German Federal Supreme Court provide clearer and more accessible information on how to reach the above conclusion.
Also related to the German Nord Stream investigation, suspect Volodymyr Z, also a Ukrainian citizen, was arrested in Warsaw last year. However, the Polish government refused to extradite this suspect to Germany.
For its part, to date, Germany has not appealed to higher EU agencies to promote the case with suspect Volodymyr Z, although Germany has the right to implement this move. Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul said that Berlin will respect the decision of the Polish court and will not interfere in the legal sovereignty of another country.
