PARIS, September 5. /TASS/. Russian basketball player Daniil Kasatkin, who was detained at Paris airport in late June at the request of the US authorities, has refused from being extradited to the United States and will fight to prove his innocence, his lawyer Frederic Belot told TASS.
"We had hearings today. Daniil reiterated that he rejects extradition to the United States. Then, the prosecutor general showed him various documents related to the US arrest warrant," the lawyers said, adding that there was "nothing new" in those documents and that Kasatkin has already denied the charges against him.
Further hearings are scheduled for next week. Kasatkin is expected to make a formal refusal in connection with the extradition request. Following this, his defense will be granted a copy of the arrest warrant, Belot said, adding that the issue of the extraditions will be considered in October.
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 27, a court in Paris rejected an appeal from Kasatkin’s defense to release him from jail while awaiting a decision on his extradition to the United States.