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Greek Justice Ministry approves Russian national’s extradition to France

He is accused of laundering four to nine bln dollars through the now non-existent BTC-e cryptocurrency trading platform

Alexander Vinnik, right EPA-EFE/SIMELA PANTZARTZI

Alexander Vinnik, right

© EPA-EFE/SIMELA PANTZARTZI

ATHENS, December 20. /TASS/. Greek Justice Minister Konstantinos Tsiaras has signed an order to extradite Russian national Alexander Vinnik to France, Timofei Musatov, the chief of a group of lawyers representing the Russian, told TASS on Friday, adding that an appeal would be filed against the decision.

"News came today that the minister had signed an order to extradite Vinnik to France. The French extradition request expired, it’s not valid anymore," the lawyer pointed out. "We will file an appeal and see what comes out of it," Musatov said.

"The decision was made on Friday and an appeal has to be filed within 24 hours, but the defense team has not received the necessary documents yet, while courts are closed on Saturdays, so we can see that obstacles are being put in our way to appeal the decision. We will have to think how to solve this legal issue," Musatov added, noting that an appeal against the justice minister’s decision should be filed with the Supreme Court.

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Moscow’s arguments will be accounted for in Russian Vinnik’s case hearing — Greek ministry

Vinnik case

Vinnik was detained in Greece on July 25, 2017, at the US request, where he is accused of laundering four to nine bln dollars through the now non-existent BTC-e cryptocurrency trading platform. A court in the Greek city of Thessaloniki made decisions to extradite him to both the United States and France. Russia also submitted a request for his extradition, which was upheld by the Greek Supreme Court. Vinnik denies charges brought by Washington and Paris, saying he is willing to be extradited to Russia.

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