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Russia’s suspected hacker Nikulin in US jail solitary confinement for two months - lawyer

Nikulin has been placed in a municipal jail of San Francisco, California, where he is waiting for another round of court hearings scheduled for June 26

MOSCOW, June 4. /TASS/. Russian national Yevgeny Nikulin, who was extradited in late March from the Czech Republic to the United States, has been kept in a solitary confinement for two months, Russia’s Izvestia daily reported on Monday citing his lawyer Arkady Bukh as saying.

Nikulin has been placed in a municipal jail of San Francisco, California, where he is waiting for another round of court hearings scheduled for June 26. No details were provided why the Russian national is kept in a solitary confinement.

"This is one of the ways to exert pressure on him" Bukh was quoted as saying. "The prosecution is interested to close this case as quickly as possible, therefore they need a confession from Yevgeny, who declines any involvement in hacker attacks."

Nikulin was detained in Prague on October 5, 2016, at the request of a Californian court on suspicion of hacker attacks against targets in the United States. He is accused in the United States of hacking in 2012 and 2013 big Internet companies, which include LinkedIn and Dropbox. Charges against Nikulin include computer intrusion and identity theft.

In November 2016, Russia also asked the Czech Justice Ministry to extradite Nikulin as he was accused in Russia of stealing $3,450 through the Internet in 2009. In November 2017, the Supreme Court in Prague turned down an appeal of Nikulin’s lawyers against the Prague City Court’s decision regarding his possible extradition to the United States.