Media: Russian hacker awaiting extradition to the US complained to Trump about American special services putting pressure on him
Attorney Vladimir Makeev, who represents the interests of Russian citizen Yevgeny Nikulin, the defendant accused of organizing hacker attacks on US targets, wrote a letter to US President Donald Trump in which he complained about the behavior of US special agents, Izvestia newspaper reports, citing the letter in its possession.
According to Izvestia, Makeev called on the American leader to pay attention to "illegal attempts by the US special services to obtain false testimony from a Russian citizen on alleged interference that he had had during the course of the American election campaign," the newspaper writes. In addition, another letter was sent to the Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov with a request to inform the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Czech Republic about the violation of the rights of Russian citizens. This document, as noted, is also available to the newspaper.
"Miller [FBI special agent Jeffrey S. Miller] suggested that Nikulin agree to extradition to the United States, and there, to compromise the reputation of your election campaign to the media, incriminating himself in hacking the servers of the Democratic Party. For this perjury he was promised termination of criminal prosecution, monetary compensation and US citizenship," the newspaper quotes the text of the letter sent to Trump.
They tried to break down Nikulin psychologically so that he would agree to the deal with the US Special Services, said Makeev. According to him, the detention conditions for Russians are inadequately strict in comparison with other prisoners. The lawyer also added that Russians are restricted in daylight walks, and are not given the opportunity to make calls to relatives in accordance with the rules established in the detention center.
"In addition, Nikulin has a sick stomach and kidneys; he needs a special diet. He already has severe pains and is not given the necessary medication; and the prescribed diet does not meet his conditions," said Makeev.
Evgeny Nikulin was detained last year in Prague. The California State Court is accusing him of committing hacker attacks on US targets. The Czech Ministry of Justice reported in November that Prague has received requests from the US and Russia for Nikulin's rendition. The decision on the extradition of a Russian citizen will have to be taken by the Prague court. If it makes a decision on his rendition, the final decision on his extradition will have to be made by the Minister of Justice of the Czech Republic.