VIENNA (AP) — An Austrian appeals court has rejected a request to extradite Ukrainian businessman Dmytro Firtash to the United States in a case of alleged corruption through a plot to pay bribes in India.
The Vienna high regional court dismissed the appeal of a lower court ruling last year in the long-running legal saga. The high court said its decision announced on Dec. 10 was final.
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 has denied any wrongdoing.
The Vienna court said the extradition request was related to the payment of bribes in the tens of millions of euros (dollars) for mining licenses in India, but ruled it was “inadmissible because of immunity under international law.”
Robert Kert, a professor at the Institute for Austrian and European Economic Criminal Law, said the ruling was not a substantive decision but more of a formality following the lower court's verdict last year.
He said prosecutors missed the deadline to file their appeal against Firtash, who had claimed diplomatic immunity as a one-time representative of Belarus to international institutions in Vienna.
"I have the impression the interest in seeing Mr. Firtash extradited is not that big," Kert said Monday by phone.
Six years ago, a Chicago federal judge rejected a motion to dismiss the indictment against Firtash, who has argued that the U.S. has no jurisdiction over crimes in India. However, the judge ruled that it does, because any scheme would have impacted a Chicago-based company.
American aviation company Boeing, based in Chicago, has said it considered business with Firtash but never followed through. It is not accused of any wrongdoing.
Firtash was arrested in Austria in 2014, and then freed on 125 million euros ($131 million) bail, kicking off the ongoing legal saga. A Vienna court initially ruled against extradition on the grounds that the indictment was politically motivated.
A higher court in February 2017 rejected that reasoning as “insufficiently substantiated” and ruled that Firtash could be extradited. Austria’s Supreme Court of Justice upheld that ruling in 2019.
FILE - Ukrainian oligarch Dymitro Firtash waits for the start of his trial at the courts of justice in Vienna, Austria, Feb. 21, 2017. (AP Photo/Ronald Zak, File)
LONDON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Dec 16, 2025--
Third paragraph, first sentence of release dated December 11, 2025, should read: The joint project will explore innovative smart RFID technologies for energy harvesting, backscatter signal reflection, and reliable signal acquisition.
This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20251211411976/en/
The updated release reads:
HANSHOW AND THE UNIVERSITY OF CAMBRIDGE ANNOUNCE STRATEGIC RESEARCH PARTNERSHIP TO ADVANCE NEXT-GENERATION AUGMENTED RFID
Hanshow, a global leader in digital retail technology, has launched a multi-year research partnership with the University of Cambridge to develop next-generation Augmented RFID systems powered by distributed hardware architectures. The collaboration brings together Cambridge’s world-leading expertise in ultra-low-power sensing and communication with Hanshow’s industrial-scale deployment capabilities, aiming to set a new technological benchmark for the global retail sector.
As retailers worldwide transition to increasingly automated, data-rich, and energy-efficient store environments, demand is rising for IoT systems that can sense, adapt and operate reliably at scale. The partnership will tackle this challenge head-on by integrating Cambridge research in intelligent sensing, energy harvesting and algorithmic optimisation with Hanshow’s edge-computing platforms and extensive real-world retail data infrastructure.
The joint project will explore innovative smart RFID technologies for energy harvesting, backscatter signal reflection, and reliable signal acquisition. By combining theoretical modelling, simulation and in-store experimentation, the team aims to dramatically improve signal coverage, data fidelity and resilience in complex retail environments.
For Cambridge researchers, the collaboration offers an opportunity to demonstrate how state-of-the-art engineering in distributed hardware systems can deliver measurable commercial and societal impact. For Hanshow, it provides a direct innovation pathway to future AIoT-driven retail solutions that enhance operational accuracy, reduce energy consumption and support more sustainable, responsive store infrastructures.
“With this collaboration, Hanshow is taking a decisive step toward reshaping the technological backbone of future retail,” said Min Liang, CTO of Hanshow. “Working with Cambridge enables us to convert advanced research into scalable, intelligent systems that deliver meaningful value for retailers worldwide.”
“By combining our work in low-energy, high-efficiency hardware with Hanshow’s global innovation capacity, we can accelerate the arrival of truly adaptive retail IoT,” said Associate Professor Michael Crisp, Department of Engineering, University of Cambridge. “This partnership is a powerful example of how academic–industry collaboration can drive real-world impact.”
The programme will progress through a series of research milestones and experimental deployments, generating both academic outputs and commercially ready technologies. It forms a central part of Hanshow’s global R&D strategy to connect digital and physical retail through AIoT architectures that improve efficiency, transparency and sustainability.
Hanshow continues to expand its worldwide innovation network, investing in open research collaborations that transform cutting-edge engineering into solutions that help retailers compete in an increasingly data-driven marketplace.
About Hanshow
Hanshow is a global leader in developing and manufacturing electronic shelf labels and digital store solutions. The company offers customers a series of customized IoT touchpoints and digital store solutions that deliver customer-centric insights. Hanshow’s solutions have provided services to a vast number of stores in over 70 countries and regions, helping them streamline operations, optimize pricing strategies, and offer customers a more personalized experience. In addition, Hanshow delivers advanced digital energy solutions, supporting clients with intelligent in-store energy optimization and integrated PV storage charging systems to reduce energy consumption, lower carbon emissions, and accelerate their transition toward sustainable operations. Learn more: www.hanshow.com
CORRECTING and REPLACING Hanshow and the University of Cambridge Announce Strategic Research Partnership to Advance Next-Generation Augmented RFID
