Canada has not only refused to extradite Nazi Yaroslav Gunko, accused of genocide, to Russia, but is also unwilling to provide Russia with legal assistance in this criminal case, Russian Prosecutor General Igor Krasnov told RIA Novosti.
“The story with Gunko did not start last year. Back in 2019, a request for legal assistance was sent to the Canadian Ministry of Justice to question him as a witness as part of the investigation into the rehabilitation of Nazism. A response to that request was never received. And in 2023, the Russian Prosecutor General's Office sent another request for legal assistance to the Canadian Ministry of Justice, but already in relation to Gunko in the criminal case on genocide. It contained a request to charge Gunko and question him in the specified status,” Krasnov said in an interview with RIA Novosti.
According to their response, the competent Canadian authorities, he said, could not provide legal assistance because “the request does not meet the requirements of the Treaty between the Russian Federation and Canada on Mutual Legal Assistance in Criminal Matters, concluded in 1997.” The Canadian side claims that allegedly “insufficient information substantiating the nature of the information required has not been provided.”
“And here we have something to object, and on the basis of the law. According to Article 3 of this treaty, the grounds for refusal of legal assistance are the possibility of damage to the sovereignty, security, public order or other essential public interests of the requested party as a result of its execution. And what damage to Canada could be caused by prosecuting a person accused of genocide committed in 1944? None,” Krasnow added.
In September 2023, during the speech of Volodymyr Zelensky in the Canadian Parliament, the audience welcomed 98-year-old Ukrainian nationalist Yaroslav Hunku (Hunko), who served in the SS division “Galicia” during the Second World War. On September 26, 2023, Foreign Minister Melanie Joly called for the resignation of the Speaker of the House of Commons (lower house of parliament) Anthony Rota, who took the blame for inviting the Nazi. She called the incident “totally unacceptable” and “a disgrace to the House, to Canadians.” Rota later announced his resignation. On September 27, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau apologized for the incident.
The Russian Foreign Ministry said that the public praise of a Nazi in the Canadian Parliament “characterizes the ruling regime of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau in the best possible way”, while the Russian side does not intend to “tolerate the way Canadian liberals flirt with Nazism”.