PROSECUTOR ASKS THAT RUSSIAN CYBER-CRIMINAL'S TRIAL BE POSTPONED TO NEXT YEAR

The United States Attorney's Office in Seattle has requested that the Federal Judge overseeing the cyber-crime trial of the Russian hacker, Roman Seleznev, be rescheduled to May, 2015. The stated grounds are that the complexity of the case, and the volume of discovery that must be reviewed by defense attorneys, are such that, with their exercise of due diligence, they cannot be adequately prepared for trial before May, 2015.

Specifically cited by the Government was the fact that there are 20 terrabytes of evidence that must be reviewed by counsel before trial. The defendant is charged with the theft of over two million credit card numbers, taken from retail establishments in the State of Washington, and selling a portion of them. The maximum punishment that he could receive in this case is 30 years in Federal Prison.

 Seleznev also faces similar Federal charges in another case filed in the District of Nevada. His father, Russian Duma (Parliament) member Valery Seleznev, who has asserted that his son was illegally kidnapped, by US law enforcement agents, in the Republic of the Maldives, has now stated that the
intention of the United States Government is to fabricate evidence against his son, with the ultimate goal of forcing the Government of Russia to exchange him for the American fugitive NSA contractor, Edward Snowden.

Allegations that several Russian nationals have received stiff sentences in American courts, in what Russia regards as purely political cases, have appeared in Russian media in recent years, beginning with the extradition and conviction of the Russian arms trafficker, Viktor Bout. Public opinion in Russia has been very supportive of criminal defendants, convicted in US courts, who are Russian nationals, irrespective of their guilt.