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US
‘kidnaps’ Russian MP’s son to ‘exchange him for Snowden’
A Russian MP claims the US kidnapped his son from the Maldives on bogus cyber-fraud charges and may be preparing to offer him as bait in a swap deal for Edward Snowden.
RT,
8
July, 2014
Roman
Seleznyov, 30, was arrested at Male international airport as he was
about to board a flight to Moscow. He was forced by US secret service
agents to board a private plane to Guam and was later arrested. The
Russian ministry slammed his detention as “a de-facto
kidnapping.”
Moscow
considers the kidnapping "a
new hostile move by Washington,” and
accused the US of ignoring proper procedure in dealing with foreign
nationals suspected of crimes.
“The
same happened to Viktor
Bout and Konstantin
Yaroshenko,
who were forced to go to the US from third countries and convicted on
dubious charges.”
In
an interview to RT Russian MP Valery Seleznyov, Roman’s father
pointed to the illegality of the US kidnap.
“For
all I know they may be demanding a ransom tomorrow. Or try to
exchange him for [NSA whistleblower Edward] Snowden or somebody. One
can only wonder.”
He
cannot contact his son and claims American authorities are denying
Roman his rights.
“They
took him to Guam because American law is not fully applicable there,”
the lawmaker explained.
The
MP said that his son has scant computer skills and could not be
involved in any sort of hacking.
The
US Department of Justice and US Secret Service announced Monday that
Roman Seleznyov was indicted on charges including identity theft,
bank fraud, illegally accessing information on protected computers
and trafficking in unauthorized access devices.
He
is charged with stealing and selling US citizens’ credit card data
between 2009 and 2011 and may face up to 30 years in prison if found
guilty.
Seleznyov
appeared in court on Monday, and will be held in custody until his
next hearing in two weeks.
“This
important arrest sends a clear message: despite the increasingly
borderless nature of transitional organized crime, the long arm of
justice – and this Department – will continue to disrupt and
dismantle sophisticated criminal organizations,” Jeh Johnson,
Secretary of Homeland Security, said in a statement.
The
Secret Service called Seleznyov “one of the world's most prolific
traffickers of stolen financial information.”
The
Russian’s “scheme involved multiple network intrusions and data
thefts for illicit financial gain," said the director of the
Secret Service, Julia Pierson. "The adverse impact this
individual and other transnational organized criminal groups have on
our nation's financial infrastructure is significant and should not
be underestimated.”
It
is not the first time Mr Seleznyov has been in the news - he was
injured in a 2011 bomb blast in Marrakech, Morocco.
The
US has a record of taking drastic steps when it wants people held in
custody. The methods may vary from the widely-criticized practice of
“extraordinary rendition,” or the blatant kidnappings of terror
suspects during the Bush era, to putting pressure on foreign
governments to allow American agents a free hand on their soil.
See also -
Roman
Seleznev, son of politician known for anti-American outbursts,
arrested in Maldives on suspicion of hacking activities
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