Spanish Court to Consider Extradition of Russia's Alleged Hacker to US

The court in Madrid will consider on Wednesday the extradition of a Russian citizen Petr Levashov, whom the US authorities call one of the world's most dangerous hackers, from Spain to the US, but the decision will be delivered later, the Spanish National Court told Sputnik.

MADRID (Sputnik) — In April, Levashov was detained at the request of Spanish police in Barcelona and was later taken to Madrid, the country's capital, after the US Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) received in late March information about Levashov's travel to Spain.

The US Department of Justice said the programmer was accused of the fraud on the Internet and illegal interceptions of information. The warrants signed by the US prosecutors in April included the allegations that Levashov had been running the network of infected computers named Kelihos botnet. The prosecution in the US demands to sentence Levashov to 52 years in prison.

The Spanish prosecutor's office supported the extradition of the Russian programmer, saying the crimes committed were serious and stating the absence of political motives in this case. In addition, according to the prosecutor's office, the process should essentially take place on the territory of the US, since the investigation was carried out by the FBI, and the charges were brought by a number of American courts. The Spanish government considered Levashov's case in June and also supported the extradition of the Russian citizen to the US.

Levashov's lawyer in Spain Margarita Repina stated procedural violations against her client and filed an appeal against the decision on his detention and imprisonment, but it was not satisfied.