Lawyer Blasts Cape Verde Court For Delaying Move Of Sick Venezuela Envoy

Venezuelan diplomat Alex Saab's defense team on Thursday welcomed a West African court's decision to move his site of detention due to deteriorating health from cancer, but questioned why it took almost a year to do so

WASHINGTON (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 02nd September, 2021) Venezuelan diplomat Alex Saab's defense team on Thursday welcomed a West African court's decision to move his site of detention due to deteriorating health from cancer, but questioned why it took almost a year to do so.

Last July, authorities on Cape Verde - an island-nation off West Africa - arrested Saab during a fuel stop based on a US extradition warrant over alleged sanctions violations. Saab was on a humanitarian mission to Iran as special envoy for the Venezuelan government.

"The Court itself notes that the deterioration of Alex Saab's health is a matter of concern and needs attention. We have highlighted this from the very outset and question why it has taken the Court nearly a year to recognize this," defense counsel Jose Manuel Pinto Monteiro said in a statement.

On Wednesday, a court of appeal granted a request to move the site of Saab's detention to Praia from the Island of Sal, the defense team said.

In June, he added, the UN Human Rights Committee called for halting Saab's extradition proceedings and ordered that he be granted unrestricted access to specialist medical attention. This came some six months after the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) Court of Justice ruled similarly, the lawyer said.

Cape Verde's constitutional court is soon due to announce its decision on whether to extradite Saab to the United States.

Last month, the Deputy Director of the Russian Foreign Ministry's Information and Press Department, N.T. Lakhonin, condemned the US effort to extradite Saab, warning that it could have a "boomerang effect" and negatively impact international relations.