American authorities have withdrawn the extradition request for Russian Alexander Vinnik from France. His attorney Frédéric Belo said this, RBC reports.
During a hearing in the Investigating Chamber of the Paris Court, it emerged that the United States had withdrawn the extradition request filed in 2020.
«With the aid of such a deceitful manoeuvre the United States sought not only to keep Vinnik in prison but also to have him returned to Greece so that he could be sent to the United States as quickly as possible,» Belo said.
During the hearing, the court also moved the scheduled further hearings in Vinnik’s case from 7 September to 3 August. Until then, he will remain in a French prison.
The U.S. Justice Department declined to comment.
Earlier, the French court rejected a cassation petition challenging the verdict on the five-year sentence. As a result of this decision, Vinnik could be extradited to Greece, and then to the United States, his lawyers said.
The transfer was due to take place on 30 June, but the defence filed an urgent appeal to suspend Vinnik’s expulsion from France, and also petitioned the European Court of Human Rights. The latter prohibited the French authorities from extraditing Vinnik to Greece.
Earlier, in 2017, Vinnik was detained in Greece on suspicion of laundering $4 billion through the cryptocurrency exchange BTC-e. At the same time, U.S. authorities seized the BTC-e domain.
Subsequently, a Greek court granted the extradition request for Vinnik at the request of three countries — the United States, Russia and France. In December 2019, Greek Justice Minister Kostas Tsiaras decided on sequential extradition of the Russian, first to France, then to the United States and Russia.
In early 2020, Vinnik was extradited from Greece to France. He was sentenced to five years in prison and a fine of €100,000. The defence attempted to appeal the decision, but the court upheld the verdict.
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