Swiss Court Approves Kremlin-Linked Russian Businessman's Extradition To U.S.

A Swiss court has published its decision to allow the extradition of a Kremlin-linked Russian businessman to the United States.

The Federal Criminal Court in Zurich on December 13 made public its November 16 ruling that upheld a previous rejection of Vladislav Klyushin's argument that he was a victim of a U.S. political campaign to prosecute him on trumped-up insider-trading charges.

The court also said it had no reason to question the independence of the U.S. judicial system and that U.S. authorities had presented sufficient grounds for seeking to try Klyushin.

Oliver Ciric, Klyushin's lawyer, questioned whether the Swiss court gave the case adequate consideration.

"We filed an appeal on December 6. We consider that the Swiss Federal Criminal Tribunal didn't fully review the political case argument," he said in an e-mail to RFE/RL.

Klyushin, the owner of M13, a Russian company that offers media monitoring as well as cybersecurity services, was arrested in Valais Canton in March on the U.S. arrest warrant.

In the United States, Klyushin is suspected of making tens of millions of dollars along with accomplices by hacking into confidential information about listed U.S. companies.

Klyushin's extradition to the United States was approved in June after the Swiss Federal Office of Justice rejected a Russian request to extradite Klyushin to Moscow to face trial there.

The United States slapped Russia with sanctions in April for interfering in the 2020 U.S. presidential election, hacking, and supporting pro-Russian separatists in Ukraine.

The website of M13 says its services are used by the Russian presidential administration and government.

With reporting by Mike Eckel in Prague and Reuters