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Russian citizen sentenced to 27 years by US court to appeal verdict

However, the attorney did not say what arguments the appeal would contain

NEW YORK, May 4. /TASS/. An appeal will be filed against the sentence of Russian citizen Roman Seleznev, handed 27 years in prison over hacking by a US court, defense attorney Igor Litvak told TASS. He added that the defense had at least three months to file an appeal.

"Of course, we do not completely agree with the sentence," he said commenting on the plans to file an appeal. According to the attorney, while making this decision, the judge did not take into consideration Seleznev’s poor health.

"According to the law, we have about three months to prepare an appeal and file it," Litvak said. "If we choose, we may request a continuance to gain more time," he added.

However, the attorney did not say what arguments the appeal would contain. "It is too early to speak about it, the process has just begun," he said. Litvak pointed out that the case had already been handled for three years.

Notice of appeal

On Wednesday, Litvak filed a notice of appeal with the Federal District Court in Seattle that had sentenced Seleznev to 27 years behind bars.

According to the court sources, the appeal will be considered by the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit.

The Seleznev case

Roman Seleznev was detained at the international airport of the Republic of Maldives on July 5, 2014. On the same day, he was extradited to the island of Guam, an unincorporated territory of the United States. Guam’s district court refused to release the Russian and handed down a decision to deport him to Seattle, where charges against him were brought.

US investigators suspected Seleznev of having intended to steal and sell information about US citizens’ credit cards between October 2009 and February 2011. According to the investigators, the Russian was involved in the theft of some 200,000 credit card numbers. In August 2016, Seleznev was found guilty of cybercrime charges.

Moscow claims that Seleznev was not arrested but "kidnapped" by the US authorities while the case against him is politically motivated.

Russia’s Foreign Ministry repeatedly voiced protests against the policy of the US authorities that encourage their special services to "literally kidnap our citizens abroad." "The tragic cases of Roman Seleznev and Konstantin Yaroshenko are examples of that policy. The US authorities put these Russian citizens to prison and deliberately deprived them of proper medical assistance," the Russian Foreign Ministry said.