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US court refuses to dismiss charges against Russian hacking suspect

US District Judge Richard Jones said the testimony or evidence presented during the hearing did not suggest that the actions of the US agents amounted to any misconduct

NEW YORK, December 16. /TASS/. The US federal court in Seattle has denied a request of lawyers to dismiss the charges against Russian hacking suspect Roman Seleznev.

The Russian’s lawyers said the US should drop all the charges of cybercrime and the case against Seleznev should be closed as the operation to detain him in July last year was carried out by the US special services illegally.

US District Judge Richard Jones said the testimony or evidence presented during the hearing did not suggest that the actions of the US agents amounted to any misconduct.

The judge also ruled that the manner in which a person is brought to trial may not impact the court’s ability to try him. The only exceptions are torture and other outrageous misconduct.

Seleznev, the son of a Russian MP, was detained at the international airport of the Maldives’ capital Male on July 5, 2014 and taken to a jail on the island of Guam on cyber fraud charges. Guam’s district court ruled to relocate the Russian to Seattle. Seleznev is now charged in a 40-count indictment and faces up to 30 years in jail. Investigators say Seleznev is involved in the theft and sale of more than 2 million credit card numbers.