PARIS, August 27. /TASS/. A court in Paris has rejected an appeal from the defense of Russian basketball player Daniil Kasatkin to release him from jail while awaiting a decision on his extradition to the United States, where he is accused of alleged complicity in cybercrimes, a TASS correspondent reports from the courthouse.

The court, however, did not provide an explanation for its decision, limiting itself to the wording "without motivation." After the verdict was handed down, corrections officers escorted the Russian out of the courtroom.

Earlier during the hearing, the Paris prosecutor's office urged the court to reject the defense's petition for release, calling the guarantees of the basketball player's stay in France offered by his counsel and the Russian Embassy "insufficient."

The prosecution also deemed as "suspicious" the Russian Embassy's proposal to provide Kasatkin with an apartment in the suburbs of the French capital, where he would stay under house arrest pending a decision on his extradition to the United States.

During the court hearing, Kasatkin gave assurances that he would not flee from the apartment provided by the Russian Embassy.

"If I were to run away from there, it would undermine the reputation of the Russian diplomatic mission," he said.

During a break in the hearing, the athlete was unable to hold back his emotions and broke down in tears. At that point, he embraced his fiancee, who was also present in the courtroom, but whom he had not had any contact with since July because the penitentiary authorities turned down all her prison visit requests.

The Russian basketballer’s lawyer, Frederic Belot, said that the defense had not yet received a written extradition request from the United States. The judge stated in his opening speech at the hearing on Wednesday that, according to the US extradition request, the Russian is charged with "computer fraud" and "wire fraud," which under US law carries five and 20 years in prison respectively.

Kasatkin was detained at Paris' Charles de Gaulle Airport at the request of US authorities on June 21. He is suspected of being part of a hacker group that carried out ransomware attacks targeting US companies and federal agencies.

The Investigative Chamber at the Paris court, having reviewed on July 9 a request for release filed by Kasatkin's lawyer, decided to keep the athlete in custody after lengthy deliberations, despite assurances from his lawyer that he would remain in France and not skip bail.

On August 25, Belot told TASS that the extradition request from the US authorities arrived at the French Foreign Ministry on August 19.

The lawyer added that the defense never received these documents, and subsequently filed a petition for the immediate release of the Russian national with the chairman of the investigative chamber of the Paris Court of Appeal and the Prosecutor General.