A member of the protection group of the alleged BTC-e operator Alexander Vinnik has referred to as on the top of the Russian Orthodox Church to intervene in assist of his shopper. The Russian nationwide could also be sentenced to over 50 years in jail for his function in the notorious cryptocurrency change.
Prisoner Swap for People in Russian Custody Is Vinnik’s Solely Likelihood to Return Dwelling, Lawyer Says
Frederic Belot, the French lawyer who has been representing Russian crypto entrepreneur and alleged cash launderer Alexander Vinnik in courts for years, has written to Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia with a request to assist for his shopper’s return to the homeland.
“The Vinnik case for the USA shouldn’t be a authorized, however a political trial,” the lawyer mentioned in the letter, quoted by the Russian Tass information company. Within the U.S., he might face imprisonment for greater than 50 years, Belot warned and emphasised:
Now the one factor that may save Alexander is his change, amongst different Russians, for Americans imprisoned in Russia.
Belot referred to the circumstances of Brittney Griner and Paul Whelan. This isn’t the primary time he’s suggesting this resolution. In early September, the lawyer urged Moscow to incorporate Vinnik in talks over a possible prisoner swap with Washington, highlighting Vinnik’s poor well being after spending time in solitary confinement in France and a starvation strike in Greece.
In his tackle to Kirill, Frederic Belot identified that Vinnik is a “deeply believing Orthodox Christian” and added that “believing that the reality will prevail in the tip helped him endure loneliness, separation from his household, the demise of his spouse, and the monstrous injustice on the a part of the authorities of a number of international locations.”
The French protection lawyer additionally turned consideration to the violations of Vinnik’s rights after his detention in Greece and extradition to France, after which to the USA. The Russian was arrested whereas on trip in Thessaloniki in July 2017 on a warrant issued by the U.S., the place he’s accused of laundering between $four and $9 billion via the now-defunct BTC-e.
In December 2019, Greek authorities handed him over to France the place a yr later he was sentenced to 5 years in jail for cash laundering. In early August, after serving his French sentence, Vinnik was returned to Greece which instantly transferred him to the U.S.
All through these years, Russia has additionally sought his extradition on fees of embezzlement and “fraud in the sphere of laptop info” for a complete of over $12 million however Moscow’s requests weren’t granted. Vinnik himself, who’s suspected of getting collaborated with Russian intelligence, has beforehand acknowledged his will to seem earlier than a Russian courtroom.
Do you count on Alexander Vinnik to be exchanged as a part of a prisoner swap deal between Russia and the USA? Share your ideas on the case in the feedback part beneath.
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