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Italian Minister Requests Revoking of Arrest of Detained Iranian Businessman

Italian Justice Minister Carlo Nordio looks on as he leaves at the end of the annual Confindustria assembly in Rome, September 18, 2024. REUTERS/Remo Casilli/File Photo
Italian Justice Minister Carlo Nordio looks on as he leaves at the end of the annual Confindustria assembly in Rome, September 18, 2024. REUTERS/Remo Casilli/File Photo
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Italian Minister Requests Revoking of Arrest of Detained Iranian Businessman

Italian Justice Minister Carlo Nordio looks on as he leaves at the end of the annual Confindustria assembly in Rome, September 18, 2024. REUTERS/Remo Casilli/File Photo
Italian Justice Minister Carlo Nordio looks on as he leaves at the end of the annual Confindustria assembly in Rome, September 18, 2024. REUTERS/Remo Casilli/File Photo

The Italian justice minister has filed a request to revoke the arrest of an Iranian businessman detained in Milan who was wanted by the United States on suspicion of involvement in a drone strike against its forces, the justice ministry said on Sunday.

Mohammad Abedini was arrested in Milan last month on a US warrant for allegedly supplying drone parts that Washington says were used in a 2024 attack that killed three US service members in Jordan.

"Minister (Carlo) Nordio filed a request with the Milan Court of Appeal to revoke the arrest of Iranian citizen Abedininajafabadi Mohammad," a justice ministry statement said, Reuters reported.

Under Italian law, courts must abide by the minister's request.

In his statement, Nordio wrote that legal conditions were not in place to extradite Abedini as that could only be done for offences punishable both in Italy and in the United States.

The statement said violations of the International Economic Emergency Powers Act (IEEPA) did not correspond to conduct recognizable as a crime under Italian law. It added there was no evidence corroborating the other charges of supporting a terrorist organization.

Earlier this week, Nordio said the US had not yet submitted a formal request to extradite Abedini.

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Zelenskiy Says Ready to Exchange N. Korean Soldiers for Ukrainians Held in Russia

Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskiy attends a joint press conference with OSCE Chairperson-in-Office and Minister for Foreign Affairs of Finland Elina Valtonen (not pictured), amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, in Kyiv, Ukraine January 8, 2025. REUTERS/Alina Smutko
Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskiy attends a joint press conference with OSCE Chairperson-in-Office and Minister for Foreign Affairs of Finland Elina Valtonen (not pictured), amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, in Kyiv, Ukraine January 8, 2025. REUTERS/Alina Smutko
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Zelenskiy Says Ready to Exchange N. Korean Soldiers for Ukrainians Held in Russia

Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskiy attends a joint press conference with OSCE Chairperson-in-Office and Minister for Foreign Affairs of Finland Elina Valtonen (not pictured), amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, in Kyiv, Ukraine January 8, 2025. REUTERS/Alina Smutko
Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskiy attends a joint press conference with OSCE Chairperson-in-Office and Minister for Foreign Affairs of Finland Elina Valtonen (not pictured), amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, in Kyiv, Ukraine January 8, 2025. REUTERS/Alina Smutko

Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said on Sunday Kyiv is ready to hand over North Korean soldiers to their leader Kim Jong Un if he can organize their exchange for Ukrainians held captive in Russia.
"In addition to the first captured soldiers from North Korea, there will undoubtedly be more. It's only a matter of time before our troops manage to capture others," Zelenskiy said on the social media platform X.
Zelenskiy said on Saturday that Ukraine had captured two North Korean soldiers in Russia's Kursk region, the first time Ukraine has announced the capture of North Korean soldiers alive since their entry into the nearly three-year-old war last autumn.
Ukrainian and Western assessments say that some 11,000 troops from Russia's ally North Korea have been deployed in the Kursk region to support Moscow's forces. Russia has neither confirmed nor denied their presence, Reuters reported.
Zelenskiy has said Russian and North Korean forces had suffered heavy losses.
"Ukraine is ready to hand over Kim Jong Un's soldiers to him if he can organize their exchange for our warriors who are being held captive in Russia," Zelenskiy said.
Zelenskiy posted a short video showing the interrogation of two men who are presented as North Korean soldiers. One of them is lying on a bed with bandaged hands, the other is sitting with a bandage on his jaw.
One of the men said through an interpreter that he did not know he was fighting against Ukraine and had been told he was on a training exercise.
He said he hid in a shelter during the offensive and was found a couple of days later. He said that if he was ordered to return to North Korea, he would, but said he was ready to stay in Ukraine if given the chance.
Reuters could not verify the video.
Zelenskiy said that for those North Korean soldiers who did not wish to return home, there may be other options available and "those who express a desire to bring peace closer by spreading the truth about this war in the Korean (language) will be given that opportunity."
Zelenskiy provided no specific details.