Austrian court restarts US extradition proceedings for Ukrainian businessman

BERLIN (AP) — An Austrian court says it has ruled in favor of Ukrainian businessman Dymitro Firtash in a years-long legal saga over a U.S. bid to have him extradited to face corruption charges. The decision sends the extradition case back to square one. Firtash faces a U.S. indictment accusing him of a conspiracy to pay bribes in India to mine titanium which is used in jet engines. He denies any wrongdoing. He was arrested in Austria in 2014 and then freed on bail. That kicked off a still-unresolved legal saga. Vienna’s upper state court said Friday that it has now ruled in favor of Firtash and approved restarting extradition proceedings. It meant that a 2017 ruling against him was overturned.