Montenegro Appeals Court overrules Do Kwon extradition

The Appeals Court in Montenegro overruled the High Court’s previous decision to extradite Do Kwon, per a Vijesti report from December 19. The Appeals Court found that there had been multiple violations in the legal proceedings that led to the High Court decision on November 17.

According to the statement, the decision to extradite Do Kwon does not offer sufficient reasons, and the reasons provided are themselves unclear. The Court, thus, concluded that the High Court’s ruling should be overruled and the case brought back to the Primary Court in Podgorica, the capital of Montenegro.

In the same ruling, the Appeals Court also decided that Do Kwon’s associate, Hon Chang Joon, is also not to be extradited to either the United States or South Korea at this time. The court, however, sustained Kwon and Joon’s 4-month prison sentence in Montenegro.

Arrest in Montenegro and extradition requests

After multiple months on the run due to his role in the Terra (LUNA) crash, Do Kwon and Hon Chang Joon, Terraform Labs’ Chief Financial Officer, were arrested at the Podgorica airport on March 23, 2023.

The two men were detained by the border police while attempting to board a plane bound for Dubai, United Arab Emirates, using fake Costa Rican passports. The two men initially denied their documents were falsified but later admitted they acquired them through a Singapore-based agency.

Montenegro received extradition requests both from South Korea and from the U.S. The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) alleges that the entire Terra ecosystem was not only presented to investors as a securities investment but also represented an intricate cryptocurrency fraud organized by multiple malicious actors.

Interestingly, while Do Kwon previously agreed to an expedited extradition process, the fact that two separate countries requested his extradition caused the High Court to opt for the lengthier, standard legal process, per the Vijesti report.