Brno, Jan 23 (CTK) – The Czech Constitutional Court (US) has rejected a complaint that Russian Yevgeniy Nikulin, arrested in the Czech Republic in October 2016 and wanted by the USA and Russia on suspicion of computer hacking, filed against his detention, according to the decision in the US database.
The US said one part of Nikulin’s complaint was belated and the other part apparently groundless, judge-rapporteur Katerina Simackova writes in the ruling.
The US judges did not deal with Nikulin’s protests against his remanding in custody in 2016 and his previous hospitalisation. The deadline for such a complaint had expired 11 months before he filed it.
The judges dealt with Nikulin’s protest against the extension of his detention last year, but they concluded that the courts gave proper reasons for their decision.
The Czech police arrested Nikulin, 30, based on an U.S. warrant. The United States suspects him of nine different criminal acts committed in 2012-13, including a hacking attack on the Linkedin and Formspring social networks and the Dropbox file hosting service.
Russia applied for his extradition on the same day as the USA based on the warrant for his arrest it issued on suspicion of an Internet theft of finances amounting to $3,450 in 2009.
Czech courts confirmed that Nikulin’s extradition to both countries is possible. It is up the Czech justice minister to decide whether Nikulin should be extradited.
Justice Minister Robert Pelikan (ANO) received Nikulin’s file in December and he is bound to make the decision within three months. Pelikan may submit the case to the Supreme Court.
Nikulin says the U.S. claims are based merely on statements of the FBI, which offered him no punishment in exchange for his confession that he hacked the e-mails of unsuccessful presidential candidate Hillary Clinton on order by Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Russia said previously it would do all it can do to prevent Nikulin’s extradition to the USA. The Russian paper Izvestiya recently wrote that Nikulin’s health markedly worsened in the custody prison, he does not have the required treatment and is in absolute isolation. The Czech authorities dismissed this, saying his health did not deteriorate and and he had all the health care he needed.
