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Norwegian court dismisses FBI request for extradition of suspected Russian hacker

The US secret service suspects the Russian of spreading more than 50 files through the Internet essential for installing the Citadel virus and for running the infected computers

© AP Photo/Michael Sohn

OSLO, April 27. /TASS/. An Oslo district court has dismissed a request from the US Federal Bureau of Investigation for the extradition of a Russian citizen suspected of spreading the computer virus Citadel, the suspect’s lawyer, Johannes Bakkeving, has told TASS.

"The court has found that there is not enough evidence for my client’s extradition," Bakkeving said. "We reacted with great relief to the court’s awareness there is not sufficient evidence to support the charges. Regrettably, the suspect still remains in the Norwegian custody."

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The Oslo district court confirmed that a corresponding ruling had been passed and handed over to the lawyers on April 15. The prosecution has already appealed to a court of higher instance. The Oslo court of appeal is now to make a decision whether the prosecution’s request will be considered.

A young software specialist whose Russian citizenship has been confirmed by the Russian embassy in Oslo, moved to eastern Norway about a year ago, where he worked for a local IT company. For the past six months he has been in custody in connection with an investigation by the US FBI and the Norwegian organized crime police department Kripos.

The US secret service suspects the Russian of spreading more than 50 files through the Internet essential for installing the Citadel virus and for running the infected computers. The FBI has lodged a request with the Norwegian Foreign Ministry for the young man’s arrest and extradition. Kripos officials, who detained the suspect, passed the request to a court of law for consideration. The Russian pleads innocence.

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