Russian Alexander Vinnik was extradited from France to Greece. Her lawyer, Zoe Konstantopoulou, said she disappeared after arriving in Athens.

TASS wrote that on August 4, the Investigation Division of the Paris Court of Appeals invalidated Vinnik’s request to be extradited to the United States and ordered him to be sent to Greece.

It was previously reported that he would remain in a French prison until then.

However, lawyer Frederic Belo said that Vinnik was immediately sent to Greece. Second, he noted that Russians could be extradited to the United States from there under an arrest warrant previously issued by a San Francisco court.

Greek lawyer Zoe Konstantopoulou said Vinnik disappeared after arriving in Greece. To him, it looks like forced abduction:

“We are in the Athens Airport Police Department. [Ответственные правоохранители] They said that they did not know where Alexander Vinnik was, that he had never been here, that they did not know his name, that they did not know where he was. What they don’t know is, in general, nothing.

He added that Vinnik may still be in the police department or may already be on his way to the United States:

“If such a thing has happened, we are talking about one of the most serious cases of violation of international law. We are talking about the abduction and enforced disappearance of a person.”

Recall that Vinnik was detained in Greece on suspicion of laundering $4 billion through the BTC-e cryptocurrency exchange.

He was later extradited to France, where the court sentenced the Russians to five years in prison and a fine of 100,000 euros.

In July, US authorities withdrew a request for Vinnik’s extradition from France, but his lawyers called it a “fraudulent maneuver”.

By court order, the Russians had to be transferred to Greece at the end of June. However, the defense filed an urgent appeal and also appealed to the European Court of Human Rights.

Read ForkLog bitcoin news in our Telegram – cryptocurrency news, courses and analysis.