The Russian business tycoon, Mr Vladimir Gusinsky, won the latest battle in his war to regain control of his media empire.
The High Court in Madrid yesterday refused an extradition petition from the Russian prosecutor's office, which has accused him of large-scale fraud.
But the court ruling said it had not found sufficient evidence of fraud to justify extradition and that Mr Gusinsky should be allowed to defend his business interests.
Mr Gusinsky, who holds dual Russian and Israeli nationality, was arrested last December by Spanish police acting on an international arrest warrant. He was imprisoned for almost six weeks until a judge freed him after payment of 1,000 million pesetas (€6 million) bail.
He has since been on provisional liberty in his luxury villa in Sotogrande, in southern Spain, during which time his passport was seized and he was ordered to report to the police station every day. He returned to jail last week ahead of yesterday's extradition hearings in Madrid.
The Media-Most empire, owned by Mr Gusinsky, has been outspoken in its criticism of Mr Putin and his government.
He was arrested in Moscow last year but fled to Spain. At the beginning of this year the Gusinsky television chain NTV fell into the hands of the state fuel monopoly Gazprom and this week the daily newspaper Segodnia failed to appear on the streets.
The Russian government has threatened to appeal against the extradition refusal and is expected to continue its fight to bring him home to face trial.