Dubai: A court has rejected prosecutors' requests to extradite a businessman to Russian authorities.

The man is accused of trading weapons and being involved in a merchant's premeditated murder in Saint Petersburg.

"The Dubai Court of Appeal has rejected Dubai Public Prosecution's (DPP) extradition request and decided that it will not surrender the Russian suspect, A.K., to the concerned Russian authorities," said Presiding Judge Eisa al Sharif when he made yesterday's judgment in courtroom 20.

The court dismissed the DPP's extradition request after A.K.'s lawyers Ahmad Al Kamaly and Nasser Hashim, of Al Kamaly Advocates and Legal Consultants, said the extradition request was "baseless, lawless and groundless".

"The Russian authorities based their extradition plea upon a recent judgment handed out against other convicts [excluding my client] in the Saint Petersburg murder, in which A.K. was not involved, charged or indicted," contended Al Kamaly and Hashim in their defence.

"The premeditated murder verdict became irrevocable and other convicts are serving their punishments. He has not been subpoenaed or sentenced in absentia, which makes the extradition plea groundless and unlawful."

The DPP referred 45-year-old A.K. to Dubai Appeals Court after the Russian authorities put out an arrest warrant and an extradition request against his name.

A.K. was arrested at Dubai International Airport and referred to the DPP in connection with the allegations of unlawful acquisition, possession, transportation and trading of firearms and ammunition and the premeditated murder of a well known Russian merchant, P.A.

Sunday's judgment is still subject to appeal before the Cassation Court within 30 days.

During the court proceedings, the judge asked the authorities to submit documents to confirm whether the suspect was discharged, or not, from the premeditated murder case mentioned in extradition request.

"The Russian authorities submitted the same court documents which were submitted earlier and were not the ones required by the Appeals Court," the lawyers said.

"The extradition request is not related to any punishable or incriminated action A.K. committed, but it's related to disputes between Russian businessmen. The plea was not based on any legal grounds… besides, we are concerned about his rights which are preserved by the Criminal Procedures Law."

The charges of trading in arms and ammunition and murder brought against A.K. remain uncorroborated and the extradition plea was therefore unjustifiable, argued the defence.

When prosecutors levelled the charges against him, A.K. said: "The victim was one of my closest friends. When he was killed, I handed his family an amount of money which he had kept with me. I have been maliciously dragged into this case because I refused to pay that money to the mafia. I am not guilty and not involved in the murder. I refuse to be extradited to the Russian authorities as well." A.K. pleaded not guilty to the charges in the Appeals Court and called on the jury to reject the extradition plea.