The court proceedings against Pablo Gonzales, accused of spying for Russia and using the name Pablo Gonzales in Poland, are likely to be suspended. Polish law does not provide for the possibility of starting a trial in the absence of the person accused of a crime, including espionage. Rubtsov was released from custody in July and later took part in a spy swap between the US, Russia and Belarus.
Just days after Rubtsov, also known as Gonzales, was released from custody and Vladimir Putin personally welcomed him to Russia, the Public Prosecutor’s Office sent an indictment on his espionage charges to the Przemyśl District Court. This occurred at a time when the defendant was already beyond the reach of the Polish justice system.. Several dozen volumes of his case files were also submitted to the court and information that the classified files contain much more. The justification for Rubtsov’s release from pre-trial detention, where he has been held since February 2022, when he was arrested by Polish services, is also not public.
From the prosecutor’s point of view, the filing of an indictment in court closes the case. Prosecutors had strong evidence of Rubtsov/Gonzales’ espionage activities. The justification for the veracity of the accusations was reinforced by subsequent court decisions that recognized subsequent requests for pre-trial detention against him.. In this situation, prosecutors could not interrupt the proceedings and the proper purpose was to send the case to court, even though the defendant had been released early.
Rubtsov/Gonzales was handed over to the US, which included him in an exchange with Russian and Belarusian authorities. It is not known on what formal basis Rubtsov was released. Judges with experience in criminal proceedings do not remember a similar situation – the release of a person suspected of a crime and only then the presentation of an indictment to the court..
The court that has been brought to such an unusual case has very limited possibilities for action. Without the defendant, it cannot start the trial because his presence is required. It can send a summons to the law firm representing Rubcow in Poland, but it is difficult to count on his voluntary appearance in a situation where he faces about a dozen years in prison. The court can also search for Rubcow with the help of arrest warrants, EAWs and Interpol notices, but this is unlikely to yield any results. The same means are used to prosecute, among others: Smolensk airport controllers and espionage suspect Tomasz Szmydt – a former judge who requested asylum in Belarus a few months ago.
According to the Code of Criminal Procedure, if there is a “long-term obstacle that makes it impossible to conduct the proceedings”, the proceedings are suspended for the duration of the obstacle. The suspension means that the trial can still begin, but only if the defendant is caught. If this does not happen, the proceedings will be dismissed due to the statute of limitations. In the case of espionage, this is 30 years, plus another 10 years for the deadline for submitting the indictment to the court. This occurs when the case is filed before the statute of limitations for the crime itself has expired.
If Paweł Rubcow, also known as Pablo Gonzales, is not brought to justice, which requires his capture, his case will not be closed until 2064.