6.  The applicant was born in 1971 and lives in Odessa. 7.  The applicant has been living and working in Ukraine since 1995. He has a partner and five minor children. All his family are Ukrainian nationals. 8.  In 2007, following media coverage of the applicant’s successful business, he was approached by representatives of the Iranian Embassy. They invited him to meet the President of Iran to receive an award for his business success. The applicant refused, as he disagreed with the domestic and foreign policies of the President. 9.  In 2009 the applicant financially supported one of the opposition candidates in the Presidential elections. He submits that supporters of opposition candidates were prosecuted in Iran. 10.  On an unknown date criminal proceedings for embezzlement were instituted against the applicant in Iran. 11.  On 31 June 2009 the applicant was placed on the list of wanted persons by the Tehran Prosecutors’ Office. An international arrest warrant was issued. 12.  On 11 February 2010 the applicant applied for refugee status in Ukraine. 13.  On 2 March 2010 the UNHCR Regional Representation for Ukraine, Belarus and Moldova wrote a letter to the General Prosecutor’s Office of Ukraine (“the GPO”). They noted that the applicant was officially an asylum-seeker in Ukraine and therefore his status should be taken into account if the GPO examined any request for his extradition to Iran. 14.  On 3 April 2010 the applicant was arrested by the Tairovskiy Police Department with a view to his extradition. 15.  On 6 April 2010 Odessa Kyivskiy District Court remanded the applicant in custody pending the extradition procedure. 16.  On 14 April 2010 the Odessa Regional Court of Appeal upheld the decision of the first-instance court. 17.  On 19 April 2010 the GPO replied to the UNHCR letter of 2 March 2010, assuring them that the applicant would not be extradited until his application for refugee status had been examined on the merits. 18.  On 17 June 2010 amendments to the Code of Criminal Procedure entered into force. They supplemented the Code with a new chapter, which set forth the extradition procedure to be followed and established a special procedure for detention with a view to extradition. They provided, in particular, that a person could be temporarily detained for forty days or another term envisaged in international treaties while awaiting formal request for extradition. Once a formal extradition request has been received, the court may order the detention of the person for a maximum of eighteen months with the possibility of further detention (see paragraph 28 below). 19.  On 22 June 2010 the Odessa Malinovskiy District Prosecutor requested the Odessa Malinovskiy District Court to extend the extradition detention of the applicant. 20.  On 23 June 2010 the applicant requested the Odessa Malinovskiy District Prosecutor to order his release due to lack of grounds to keep him in detention any longer. 21.  On 29 June 2010 Odessa Malinovskiy District Court extended the applicant’s detention until a decision had been taken on his extradition. 22.  On 12 July 2010 the GPO received a note from the Iranian Embassy, informing that the applicant’s detention was no longer required, due to a friendly settlement which had been reached between the applicant and one of the aggrieved parties in the case. 23.  The next day the GPO ordered the Odessa Regional Prosecutor’s Office to take the necessary measures to have the applicant released from detention. 24.  On 14 July 2010 the Deputy Prosecutor of the Odessa Region ordered the termination of the applicant’s detention. The applicant was released the same day and the GPO terminated the examination of the request for the applicant’s extradition to Iran. 25.  On 16 July 2010 the Odessa Regional Court of Appeal discontinued examination of the applicant’s appeal against the decision of 29 June 2010, given that the applicant had been released. 26.  On 9 December 2010 the State Committee for Nationalities and Migration rejected the applicant’s request for granting him the refugee status. The applicant was notified about this decision on 1 July 2011. He challenged it before the Odessa Regional Administrative Court on 10 July 2011.