EU – Baltic States, Latvia, Legislation, Technology, USA

Calovskis' attorney Ilona Bulgakova told LETA that in the appeal to the ECHR, the legal team has pointed out that if he is convicted in the United States, Calovskis would be handed down a large prison sentence.

At the same time, his defense team also pointed out to the extraordinary circumstances in Calovskis' family, pointing out that his mother is a pensioner and that his father died this past January. ''Basically, if he is extradited, his family links would be severed, as his mother would never be able to travel to the United States,'' the attorney pointed out.

Furthermore, Calovskis' attorney also pointed out to additional circumstances, which the ECHR did not take into account, including in connection with the EU-U.S. extradition agreement. The defense points out that it turned tot he European Commission regarding this matter, but the EC will only review such matters from December 1 of this year. Thus, this is another reason to doubt the legal justifications for his extradition.

As reported, the ECHR ruled this past July that Latvian cyber-crimes suspect Deniss Calovskis cannot be extradited to the United States yet, and indicated to the Latvian government not to expel Calovskis until the judgment became final or until the Court took a further decision on this matter.

The Cabinet of Ministers' expert in international human rights institutions Kristine Lice said at the time that the ECHR also ruled that there was no violation of Article 3 (prohibition of inhuman or degrading treatment) of the European Convention on Human Rights in regard to the granting of Calovskis’ extradition to the United States. ''Calovkis can be extradited, but since this judgement has not come into force, the court has ruled that the government cannot make any further decision on this matter until the ruling has come into force,'' Lice explained.

LETA also reported, the government decided in August of 2013 to extradite Calovskis to the United States, however his attorneys turned to the ECHR, claiming that the extradition be put on hold until Calovskis' case is reviewed by court, and the ECHR halted the extradition process.

U.S. law enforcement institutions have brought charges against three alleged East European cyber thieves accused of stealing banking information from computers across Europe and the United States, including Calovskis.