The Paris Court of Appeal upheld the first-instance ruling imposing a five-year prison sentence on the Russian national Alexander Vinnik.
According to «Ъ», citing Vinnik’s lawyer Frédéric Belo, the defence plans to file a cassation appeal.
According to Belo, the court made a ‘lazy decision’ without examining the evidence that the prosecution described as ‘far from indisputable’.
At the same time, the court confirmed that Vinnik is not responsible for extorting money using malware.
The defence will continue to argue that, after Vinnik’s sentence ends, he should not be transferred to Greece, as he could be extradited from there to the United States.
“Here the judge did not come to meet us, arguing that Greece is a member of the EU and his rights would not be violated there, not realising that what lies ahead in this case is extradition to the United States and a very heavy new trial in extreme, far-from-European conditions”, Belo said.
At the end of last year in Paris, found Vinnik guilty of money laundering, but dropped charges of extortion and creating the malicious ransomware program Locky.
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