High Court Refuses to Extradite Gusinsky

Spain’s high court refused to extradite Vladimir A. Gusinsky to Russia to face fraud charges, a victory for the media mogul, who says the Kremlin is trying to silence critical news coverage.

Russia has charged Gusinsky with misrepresenting the assets of his Media-Most empire to obtain a loan from the largely state-controlled natural gas monopoly Gazprom.

But the Spanish court, in a 2-1 vote, said the grounds for Russia’s case against Gusinsky would not amount to a crime in Spain--a key criterion for extradition decisions. Russia has three days to appeal.