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Greek court suspends enforcement of ruling to extradite Russian national Vinnik — attorney

Vinnik has been on a new hunger strike for a fourth day running since December 20

ATHENS, December 23. /TASS/. The Greek Supreme Administrative Court (Council of State) has put on hold enforcement of a decision taken by Justice Minister Konstantinos Tsiaras to consecutively extradite Russian national Alexander Vinnik to France, the United States and Russia, Vinnik’s Greek defense attorney Zoe Konstantopoulou told reporters on Monday.

"The chairperson of the Council of State’s fourth department has issued a temporary order to suspend enforcement of the decision to extradite Alexander Vinnik to France, the US and Russia, recognizing the danger Alexander will face in case of his extradition," she underlined.

The defendant also noted that Vinnik has been on a new hunger strike for a fourth day running since December 20, underlining that his health state is deteriorating.

"Right, law, international conventions and the constitution of our country are on Alexander’s side. Mechanisms capable of destroying human existence are working against him that disregard constitution, international conventions and laws. Mechanisms that are now expected to be underhandedly set off to overturn the court’s ruling," she continued.

"Who will prevail in the end is important for us all if we still want to refer to ourselves as humans," she stressed.

Vinnik case

Vinnik was detained while vacationing in Greece on July 25, 2017 at the United States’ request, where he is accused of laundering four to nine billion US dollars through a no longer existent Internet exchange of cryptocurrencies BTC-e. The Thessaloniki court of appeals and the Greek Supreme Court ruled Vinnik should be extradited to the United States and France. Russia is also seeking his extradition and has a corresponding verdict of the Greek Supreme Court. Vinnik denied Washington’s and Paris’ charges and agreed to be extradited to Russia.

On December 20, Greek Justice Minister Konstantinos Tsiaras delivered a decision to extradite Vinnik to France, although Greece had said that the European warrant issued by Paris was no longer valid. Vinnik went on a hunger strike in protest following this decision.

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