An Oslo district court has dismissed a request from the FBI for the extradition of an un-named Russian citizen suspected of spreading the computer virus Citadel, his lawyer, Johannes Bakkeving has said.
"The court has found that there is not enough evidence for my client's extradition.
"We reacted with great relief to the court's awareness there is not sufficient evidence to support the charges. Regrettably, the suspect still remains in the Norwegian custody," Bakkeving said.
http://t.co/V5GEKuqMe7 Norwegian court dismisses FBI request fo @INSubcontinent #INSubcontinent #Russia pic.twitter.com/2v2CrBBWQb
— Ecroaker (@Ecroaker) April 27, 2015
The Oslo district court confirmed that a corresponding ruling had been passed and handed over to the lawyers on April 15. The prosecution has already appealed to a court of higher instance. The Oslo court of appeal is now to make a decision whether the prosecution's request will be considered.
Further FBI Humiliation
The case echoes that of Scottish man Gary McKinnon, who the UK refused to extradite to the US after being diagnosed as having Asperger's syndrome — a form of autism.
Gary McKinnon #TopHackers pic.twitter.com/CEWPRNu5J8
— Top Hackers (@top_hackers14) August 13, 2014
He was accused of hacking into 97 United States military and NASA computers over a 13-month period. He was alleged to have posted a notice on the military's website:
"Your security is crap."
His extradition was blocked when UK Home Secretary Theresa May announced that: "Mr McKinnon's extradition would give rise to such a high risk of him ending his life that a decision to extradite would be incompatible with Mr McKinnon's human rights."
In another failure of the FBI, Germany's highest court last year blocked the extradition of Ercan Findikoglu, accused of having stolen over $60 million in a number of massive global card heists to the United States. The German supreme federal court ruled that he should not be extradited to the United States after lower courts failed to obtain assurances from the US that Findikoglu would not receive a disproportionate sentence.
