Speaker Paul Ryan Hopes Czechs Will Send Russian Hacker Stateside

The speaker of the US House of Representatives, Paul Ryan, has publicly said he hoped a Russian individual facing charges of hacking the likes of Dropbox, LinkedIn and other American companies be extradited to the United States.

Yevgeniy Nikulin, a Russian national, was arrested by Czech Republic police in Prague with cooperation from the FBI in late 2016. The alleged hacker is accused of penetrating computers are multiple companies based out of Silicon Valley in 2012.

While prosecutors in the US want him to be extradited to face trial, Russia also wants him extradited on a separate charge of internet theft in 2009. The extradition requests by both nations was filed in the Czech Republic on the same day.

As reported by the Associated Press, House Speaker Paul Ryan told reporters during a visit to Prauge on Tuesday that, under local extradition laws, the United States has “every reason to believe and expect that Mr. Nikulin will be extradited to America.

He added:

The United States has the case to prevail on having him extradited, whether it’s the severity of the crime, which is clearly on the side of U.S., or the timing of the request for the extradition

Meanwhile, Czech courts have previously ruled that both extradition laws have met the necessary legal conditions, leaving the sensitive decision in the hands of Czech justice minister Robert Pelikan.

However, a last-minute complaint with the county’s Constitutional Court by the hacker meant that the minister cannot decide until the court rules. As such, it is unclear when the ruling will come.

‘The United States has the case to prevail on having him extradited, whether it’s the severity of the crime, which is clearly on the side of U.S., or the timing of the request for the extradition,’ the AP report added.

30-year-old Nikulin is indicted by a Californian federal jury of hacking into multiple companies including Formspring, Dropbox and LinkedIn in 2012. LinkedIn, in particular, admitted that the hacker’s deeds were related to its sweeping 2012 breach that compromised the credentials of some 100 million users.

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