Kwon Do-hyung Faces Another Setback to Korea Due to Montenegro Prosecutor's Objection

Request for Legality Judgment on the Grand Sword
Supreme Court to Decide on Korea Travel Suspension by Weekend

The return to Korea of Kwon Do-hyung, who caused significant damage to the cryptocurrency market with the Terra and Luna crash, has once again hit a red light.

According to local media in Montenegro on the 7th (local time), the Montenegro Prosecutor General's Office filed an objection on the 2nd against the Montenegro court's decision to extradite Kwon to Korea made the previous day.

The Montenegro Prosecutor General's Office requested the Supreme Court to review the legality, claiming that the Court of Appeal and the High Court violated the International Criminal Judicial Cooperation Act. Considering the Prosecutor General's request, the Supreme Court may temporarily suspend Kwon's extradition to Korea and refer the case to a full bench. It is reported that the decision on whether to suspend Kwon's extradition will be made by this weekend.

In March, Kwon was also on the verge of going to Korea following the Court of Appeal's final ruling on extradition. However, on April 5th, the Supreme Court accepted the Prosecutor General's objection and invalidated the decision, returning the case to square one. Since then, Kwon again obtained extradition decisions from the High Court and the Court of Appeal, but ultimately his fate was left to the Supreme Court's judgment once more.

Kwon's local legal representative in Montenegro, lawyer Goran Rodic, criticized the case, saying that the court has made decisions seven times regarding Kwon's extradition case, calling it a kind of judicial disgrace.

Kwon caused losses exceeding 50 trillion won to investors worldwide and fled Korea in April 2022. He was arrested and detained in Montenegro last March on charges of possessing a forged passport. Both Korean and U.S. prosecutors, who have been investigating Kwon, requested extradition from the Montenegro Court of Appeal, which has custody of him. Since then, a dispute arose over whether the authority to decide on Kwon's extradition lies with the court or the Minister of Justice, causing the extradition decision to fluctuate for over a year.