MOSCOW. Feb 16 (Interfax) - The extradition of Russian citizen Vladimir Drinkman, accused by U.S. authorities of cyber-attacks, from the Netherlands to the U.S. causes serious damage to Russian-American relations, Russian Foreign Ministry Human Rights Commissioner Konstantin Dolgov said.
"Washington is continuing its practice of exterritorial application of U.S. laws to citizens of the Russian Federation, without presenting proof of the charges brought against them and in circumvention of the 1999 Russian-U.S. treaty on mutual legal assistance in criminal matters, which is destructive and violates international law. This causes additional serious damage to Russian-U.S. relations, which are already having hard times," Dolgov said in a commentary.
"The information on the Dutch authorities' decision to extradite Russian citizen Vladimir Drinkman, who has been under arrest at an FBI request since June 2012, to the U.S. causes our serious concerns," he said.
"We have to observe with regret that the Dutch side has failed to listen to our arguments in favor of Drinkman's priority extradition to Russia at a Russian Prosecutor General's Office request and in response to our numerous addresses in this respect. The Netherlands has also ignored arguments presented by Drinkman's defense team, which believes not unreasonably that this case is politically motivated and which has drawn it to the Dutch authorities' attention that a number of provisions of the European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms would be violated should a decision be made on extraditing the Russian citizen to the U.S. We should point out also that the Dutch law enforcement agencies had no case against Drinkman," it said.
"The record shows that Russians in the U.S. face obvious bias on the part of local judicial bodies, routine violation of the presumption of innocence principle, the fabrication of cases at the investigation stage, and, as a result, unfair sentences," he said.
"We will continue to provide all necessary consular and legal assistance to Drinkman as a Russian citizen. We demand that the American side strictly ensure his rights, including procedural ones, and legal interests. We will seek the soonest possible return of our fellow-countryman to Russia," Dolgov said.