French Lawyer Asks Russian Patriarch to Help Save Alexander Vinnik From ‘Political Trial’ in US

A member of the protection group of the alleged BTC-e operator Alexander Vinnik has referred to as on the pinnacle of the Russian Orthodox Church to intervene in help of his consumer. The Russian nationwide could also be sentenced to over 50 years in jail for his position within the notorious cryptocurrency alternate.

Prisoner Swap for Americans in Russian Custody Is Vinnik’s Only Chance to Return Home, Lawyer Says

Frederic Belot, the French lawyer who has been representing Russian crypto entrepreneur and alleged cash launderer Alexander Vinnik in courts for years, has written to Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia with a request to assist for his consumer’s return to the homeland.

“The Vinnik case for the United States is not a legal, but a political trial,” the lawyer stated within the letter, quoted by the Russian Tass information company. In the U.S., he might face imprisonment for greater than 50 years, Belot warned and emphasised:

Now the one factor that may save Alexander is his alternate, amongst different Russians, for American residents imprisoned in Russia.

Belot referred to the circumstances of Brittney Griner and Paul Whelan. This isn’t the primary time he’s suggesting this resolution. In early September, the lawyer urged Moscow to incorporate Vinnik in talks over a possible prisoner swap with Washington, highlighting Vinnik’s poor well being after spending time in solitary confinement in France and a starvation strike in Greece.

In his handle to Kirill, Frederic Belot identified that Vinnik is a “deeply believing Orthodox Christian” and added that “believing that the truth will prevail in the end helped him endure loneliness, separation from his family, the death of his wife, and the monstrous injustice on the part of the authorities of several countries.”

The French protection lawyer additionally turned consideration to the violations of Vinnik’s rights after his detention in Greece and extradition to France, after which to the United States. The Russian was arrested whereas on trip in Thessaloniki in July 2017 on a warrant issued by the U.S., the place he’s accused of laundering between $4 and $9 billion by means of the now-defunct BTC-e.

In December 2019, Greek authorities handed him over to France the place a 12 months later he was sentenced to 5 years in jail for cash laundering. In early August, after serving his French sentence, Vinnik was returned to Greece which instantly transferred him to the U.S.

Throughout these years, Russia has additionally sought his extradition on expenses of embezzlement and “fraud in the field of computer information” for a complete of over $12 million however Moscow’s requests weren’t granted. Vinnik himself, who’s suspected of getting collaborated with Russian intelligence, has beforehand acknowledged his will to look earlier than a Russian courtroom.

Do you anticipate Alexander Vinnik to be exchanged as a part of a prisoner swap deal between Russia and the United States? Share your ideas on the case within the feedback part under.