"The Russian Prosecutor General's Office has turned down the extradition request," said Igor Trunov, a lawyer for Dr. Jean Hoareau, who was convicted in France last May.
Trunov said the prosecutors had rejected the extradition request because Hoareau had never been put on the wanted list, and his sentence had never come into force. Also, under Russian law, the term of his crime had long expired.
Hoareau, 56, was arrested in Moscow on April 7 at the request of the French police, after being found guilty in France of raping a client while she was under hypnosis.
Trunov said his client had been charged in France of six rape episodes.
The lawyer said Hoareau, deputy chairman of the Association of European Psychiatrists and head of the European Center for Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, was a well-known researcher and an exemplary family man. Hoareau is married with three children, and has been living in Russia for 14 years.
Russian daily Kommersant reported earlier that the defense team was suggesting that Hoareau was being sought by the French authorities because they suspected him of spying.
Trunov described the arrest as "a purely political decision."
