Vinnik's Mother Complains About Bad Prison Conditions For Her Son - Russian Ombudswoman

Vinnik's Mother Complains About Bad Prison Conditions for Her Son - Russian Ombudswoman

Vera Vinnik, the mother of Russian national Alexander Vinnik, who was extradited from Greece to France last month, complained that her son was being subjected to inhuman and degrading prison conditions in Paris, Russian Ombudswoman Tatyana Moskalkova said on Thursday

MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 27th February, 2020) Vera Vinnik, the mother of Russian national Alexander Vinnik, who was extradited from Greece to France last month, complained that her son was being subjected to inhuman and degrading prison conditions in Paris, Russian Ombudswoman Tatyana Moskalkova said on Thursday.

"Yesterday, I met with the mother of Alexander Vinnik, who is currently in prison in Paris. [She] told me terrible things about prison conditions, a one-square-meter room for prison visits; the mother was strip-searched down to her underwear and dressed in a [prison] shirt. Everything was based on very dirty humiliation there and when I heard about this, I thought that we [Russia] were moving forward," Moskalkova said during a press conference.

Alexander Vinnik was detained in Greece in 2017 at the request of the United States, which accuses him of laundering $4 billion worth of funds through a cryptocurrency trading platform. France also filed charges against Vinnik, however, his lawyer claimed that it was only done in order to extradite him to the US.

Russia has submitted a separate extradition request to Greece but Vinnik was moved to France in late January.

A French court has ruled to keep the Russian national in custody while the investigation into his case is ongoing. Vinnik has denied all accusations.