Posts falsely claim Ireland sent extradition notices to Ukrainians

Posts falsely claim Ireland sent extradition notices to Ukrainians

Several member countries of the European Union, led by Poland and Germany, have welcomed thousands of Ukrainian refugees after Russia’s attack on their country launched on February 22, 2022. More than 84,000 Ukrainian citizens have arrived in Ireland. Against that background, social media users claimed that the Irish government had — at Kyiv’s request — sent extradition notices to Ukrainian nationals living on its territory. The posts were shared in several languages and included a photo of the alleged letter, which claimed that the Ukrainians had evaded military service. Yet Ireland is a signatory to a European convention which does not allow for such extraditions. The letter shared on social media is fake. Ireland’s justice department told AFP it had sent no such letter and experts in European law said its contents lacked legal credibility.