A Czech court has ruled that a Russian citizen can be extradited to either the US where he’s wanted for hacking social networks or Russia where he’s wanted for the lesser charge of cyber theft.
The ruling, leaves the final decision in the hands of the Czech Justice Minister.
The lawyer for suspect Yevgeniy Nikulin has already filed a complaint challenging the US extradition.
“We will appeal, I think that we will appeal the extradition to the United States. Because we have no objections to his extradition to Russia,” said, laywer Ilya Makeev
Czech police arrested 29-year-old Nikulin in Prague last year in an operation involving the FBI. His case relates to a 2012 breach at the social networking company Linkedin that it previously said may have compromised the credentials of 100 million users.
The Russian Foreign Ministry criticised Nikulin’s arrest, saying it showed Washington was mounting a global manhunt against Russian citizens. But shortly afterwards Russia issued its own extradition request based on an alleged online theft.
Suspected Russian hacker moves step closer to US extradition – my report on the murky Nikulin case from Prague https://t.co/xrBRjQWdj8
— Shaun Walker (@shaunwalker7) May 30, 2017