The extradition of Russian national Alexander Vinnik from France back to Greece in the coming months will not take place. This was told to Izvestia by the convicted man’s lawyer, Fr\u00e9d\u00e9ric Belo.<\/p>\n
According to him, this matter will be decided following the cassation appeal against the verdict of the French court, which previously sentenced Vinnik to five years in prison.<\/p>\n
\n\u201cThe cassation proceedings are under way. Nothing will happen until the French Court of Cassation makes a decision. And that will occur, roughly, in the first half of 2022,\u201d noted Belo.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n
He added that talk of an automatic return of Vinnik to Greece is not warranted.<\/p>\n
Russia is pursuing the extradition in parallel. The Russian embassy in Paris has repeatedly transmitted to the French side the relevant request from the Prosecutor General’s Office.<\/p>\n
In December 2020, the court in Paris found Alexander Vinnik guilty of laundering at least $4 billion through the BTC-e cryptocurrency exchange<\/a> and sentenced him to five years in prison and a fine of \u20ac100,000.<\/p>\n
At the end of June 2021, the appellate court upheld the first-instance verdict<\/a>.<\/p>\n
That at the end of August Vinnik was going to be extradited from France to Greece, his mother previously stated<\/a>.<\/p>\n