PARIS, January 29. /TASS/. The Paris court decided to leave Russian national Alexander Vinnik deported last week from Greece under arrest, Vinnik's lawyer Timofey Musatov told reporters on Tuesday.
"Just as expected, at 11pm the judge announced the verdict which in principle was pre-determined and fully supported the prosecutor, saying that he [Vinnik] will be left under arrest for his own safety and in order to satisfy future investigation," Musatov said.
"The lawyers' objections and protests over allowing only the prosecutor to speak — that neither lawyers nor the defendant were allowed to talk — were left unacknowledged," he added. "Of course, we will have ten days to file an appeal. An appeal will be filed," Musatov stressed.
The lawyer noted that Vinnik's defense team understand that "it will be hard to defend his rights on the French field because no one cares about the opinions of his lawyers or even of the defendant himself."
The court session on Vinnik's case was held in the Paris court behind closed doors. The session lasted for over five hours.
On January 23, Russian IT specialist Alexander Vinnik, detained in Greece on July 25, 2017 at the request of the United States, where he is accused of laundering $4 billion-$9 billion, was extradited to France. The final decision was made by the State Council — the Supreme Court of Greece. Vinnik’s extradition was also sought by Russia and the United States. The Russian national dismissed all charges brought against him and expressed readiness to return home.