MOSCOW, October 17 (RIA Novosti) - The Russian Foreign Ministry is keeping tabs on the case of the alleged cybercriminal Roman Seleznev, and working closely with the Russian consulate and his team of advocates, the ministry's human rights ombudsman told RIA Novosti Thursday.
"Our consulate in Seattle is keeping in touch with both his advocates and Seleznev himself. We are continuing to provide our citizen with all the necessary support, first of all, consular assistance. So, we are in control of the situation," Konstantin Dolgov said.
Roman Seleznev, 30, has been accused of stealing and selling more than two million credit card numbers. US prosecutors claim that between October 2009 and October 2013 the Russian citizen allegedly hacked into retail point-of-sale systems and installed malicious software to steal credit card numbers from various businesses.
Seleznev was detained by US secret service agents in the Maldives and brought to Guam, and later to Washington, in what the Russian Foreign Ministry and Seleznev's father Valery have described as a "kidnapping."
"We believe that our citizen was de facto kidnapped," Dolgov stressed. "Unfortunately, the reality is that our citizens can hardly expect the American Themis [justice system] to be impartial and unbiased toward them. But we aren't giving up. The Foreign Affairs Ministry is doing everything needed," the Russian human rights advocate said.
Last week, a US court in Seattle indicted the Russian on 11 additional counts, bringing the total number of charges to 40. They include "hacking, wire fraud, credit card theft and identity theft."
Seleznev is to be tried on November 3, 2014, although Russian Consul General in Seattle, Andrei Yushmanov, said earlier the trial may be postponed. He faces up to 30 years in prison if found guilty.
