Greek Supreme Court Rules To Extradite Vinnik To Russia

Greek Supreme Court Rules to Extradite Vinnik to Russia

The Greek Supreme Court ruled on Tuesday to extradite Russian citizen Alexander Vinnik to Russia at the second request issued by the Russian Prosecutor General's Office.

ATHENS (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 04th September, 2018) The Greek Supreme Court ruled on Tuesday to extradite Russian citizen Alexander Vinnik to Russia at the second request issued by the Russian Prosecutor General's Office.

The court will issue a written decision on September 14.

The same panel of the Supreme Court is now due to review France's request for Vinnik's extradition.

In late July, a Thessaloniki court has approved the second request lodged by the Russian Prosecutor General's Office on the extradition of Vinnik. The Russian national's defense team subsequently appealed this court decision over a number of procedural violations which took place during the trial.

Vinnik's lawyer Timofey Musatov told Sputnik on Tuesday that the consideration of the Russian petition by the Greek Supreme Court had not taken a lot of time because the case had been brought into compliance with the EU country's law.

"On September 14, the decision on Vinnik's extradition to Russia will come into force after the issuing of the written document [by the court] ... Now, the matter depends on politicians, on the political will," the lawyer suggested.

In Greece, the justice minister makes final decisions in extradition cases.

Greek courts have issued four decisions to extradite Vinnik. Two rulings concern Russia's requests, while one decision is made under the US petition and one ruling is issued upon France's request.

Musatov suggested that the situation around Vinnik was nothing but the joint operation by Paris and Washington "to get a hold of his head."

Vinnik, in his turn, said in an interview with Sputnik on Tuesday that he was ready for being extradited from Greece under the Russian request.

"I will answer all the question of a court in Russia. I am sure it will issue a fair decision, unlike the courts of other countries," the cybercrime suspect pointed out.

Vinnik continued by saying that all the charges against him were unfounded because neither the French nor the US case against him included complaints from victims of his alleged criminal activities.

The Russian national noted that his computer, cellphone and camera, which were confiscated during the detention, had been illegally handed over to the United States.

"They can put anything they need on these items confiscated from me ... They can change, add any data, they can do anything they want, anything that they find beneficial ... There will be no traces left," the cybercrime suspect pointed out.

Vinnik suggested that since he had never been to France, the country's authorities had no power to prosecute him.

"The case was fabricated on the basis of the US accusations. The French want to question me," the suspect explained.

The Russian national added that his questioning in France was scheduled for September 17.

"Why do they have to take me to France? Only to hand me over to the United States right away. They do not care about the law," Vinnik argued.

Vinnik was detained in Greece in July 2017 at the request of the US authorities on various charges, including laundering $4 billion through bitcoin cryptocurrency exchange BTC-E, which was allegedly headed by Vinnik. The exchange has said that the Russian national had never been engaged in its activities. The suspect himself has denied the US accusations.

In Russia, Vinnik is wanted for separate fraud charges, but he has denied some of them.

France put the Russian national on the wanted list in June claiming Vinnik was complicit in extortion and money laundering on its territory.