Alexander Vinnik, also known as Mr. Bitcoin, remains in a French prison, although 19 out of the 20 charges against him have collapsed. He was expected to have been released by the end of August.
“While he has served his sentence he has not been released. At the same time, he has appealed in France for this small misdemeanor sentence that we believe was imposed to justify the detention he had already served,” said Zoe Konstantopoulou to Sputnik Greece, while stressing that Vinnik is determined to bring his legal fight to the end.
As his lawyer explains, this is a major human rights issue as Alexander Vinnik is still in custody having served even this short sentence.
At the same time, Zoe Konstantopoulou talks about new American interventions in the Mr. Bitcoin case.
“We have discovered new interventions by the U.S. Embassy and the U.S. government that we will talk more about them in a few days,” she [Zoe Konstantopoulou] says. He [Alexander Vinnik] is in a bad psychological state because he remains in custody and wonders why this is the case after he has been acquitted of 19 of the 20 charges in addition to the misdemeanor sentence. He is treated in a way that criminals who are convicted for far more serious crimes are not.” – she stresses.
“It turns out in practice that the prosecutions against him were politically motivated and not criminally motivated,” she adds.
The Chronicle of The Vinnik Case
It is recalled that Vinnik was arrested in Greece in 2017, following a U.S. request on charges of money laundering.
Zoe Konstantopoulou complained that Greece “has illegally detained him for three years, without trial and without penalty, and then illegally handed him over to France, indicted for 20 felonies.”
Vinnik’s lawyer has repeatedly argued that many governments and states asked for Vinnik’s extradition from the country [Greece], while she has pointed out that both U.S. and France wanted him for his know-how and that “the accusations were the way to acquire or ”disable” him
Mr. Bitcoin was subsequently sentenced in France to five years in prison for money laundering and fined 100,000 euros.
At the end of June, after an additional month of hearing the appeal, the Paris Court of Appeal had acquitted Vinnik of 19 of the 20 charges for which he had been ousted.
For more coverage on Alexander Vinnik read:
- BTC-e’s Vinnik Rejects US Judgment, Offers to Help Putin with Expertise
- Greek Supreme Court Wants to Extradite Vinnik to the US, Final Decision Pending
- Alexander Vinnik’s Hunger Strike Begins Following Postponed Extradition Review
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