Former MP Dmytro Svyatas has been detained in Sweden; he was sentenced in absentia to 12 years’ imprisonment by a Ukrainian court in 2024. According to Expressen, on 22 October he was stopped during passport control at Arlanda Airport due to a ban on re-entry into the Schengen Area. Svyatash is currently being held at an immigration centre, and his defence team is challenging his detention.
Briefly about the main points
- Svyatasha was stopped at Arlanda Airport on 22 October.
- The reason for this was the re-entry ban entered by Poland into the Schengen system.
- The former MP is being held at the Swedish Migration Agency’s centre in Mäst.
- The defence has until 10.00 on 28 October to submit written explanations to the court.
- The migration procedure does not imply approval of extradition to Ukraine.
The Polish ban within the Schengen system formed the basis for the refusal of entry
The Swedish newspaper *Expressen* reported on the detention on 27 October; this information was relayed by *Interfax-Ukraine*. The formal grounds for refusing entry were Poland’s decision to ban re-entry, which had been entered into the joint information system the Schengen Area.
According to Swedish journalists, Svyatash holds both Ukrainian and Russian citizenship, and presented his Ukrainian passport at the border. His lawyer Mark Safaryan stated that the client had travelled to Stockholm for a concert by an American singer Stevie Wonder at the 3Arena.
Safaryan suggests that there may be political motives behind the entry restrictions. There is no independent confirmation of this theory.
The defence is challenging the detention at the immigration centre in Merst
Following his arrest, Svyatas was taken to the Swedish Migration Agency’s temporary detention centre in Mäst. His lawyer challenged the decision to detain him, arguing that there were no grounds for further restriction of his liberty.
On 27 October, the immigration court rejected the application for an oral hearing. The former MP’s representatives were given until 10.00 am on Wednesday, 28 October, to submit their final written submissions. Once these have been considered, the court is due to rule on his continued detention.
The immigration hearing does not constitute a decision to transfer the person to Ukraine
The defence also objects to the possible extradition Svyatasha to Ukraine. Safaryan refers to a ruling by the Swedish Supreme Court from October 2023 in another case, which examined the risks of transferring a person to a country where a war is ongoing.
Detention as part of immigration proceedings does not mean that Sweden has agreed to extradite the former MP to the Ukrainian authorities. As of the evening of 27 October, no decision on extradition had been announced.
The Ukrainian sentence and the treason case are being dealt with separately
On 10 June 2024, the Pechersk District Court of Kyiv sentenced Svyatasha in absentia to 12 years’ imprisonment with confiscation of property. The court found him guilty of justifying Russian armed aggression, calling for changes to Ukraine’s state borders, fraud, using forged documents and laundering property obtained by criminal means.
According to the Ukrainian public prosecutor’s office, in 2022 he shared posts on Facebook that denied Russian aggression and justified the occupation of Ukrainian territories. The financial aspect of the case concerned bank loans totalling over 50 million dollars and losses amounting to approximately 2.2 billion hryvnias. The hearing took place in the absence of the defendant, but with his lawyer present.
Separate from these proceedings, a case of treason is being heard. According to the investigation, Svyatash passed information to a former Member of Parliament Oleg Tsarev information on the consequences of the Russian missile strike on the Kremenchuk oil refinery; according to «Interfax-Ukraine», the process has been ongoing since April 2026.
