Latvia, Legislation, Technology

Deniss Calovskis

According to an announcement from the ECHR, the court has also ordered Latvia pay Calovskis EUR 5,000 in compensation.

As LETA was informed by the Cabinet of Ministers' expert in international human rights institutions Kristine Lice, the ECHR also ruled that no violation of Article 3 (prohibition of inhuman or degrading treatment) of the European Convention on Human Rights was 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.

Lice emphasized that Latvia will decide on what further action will be taken on this matter.

As 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.

The alleged international cyber criminals were responsible for creating and distributing a computer virus that infected over one million computers - at least 40,000 of which were in the United States - and caused millions in losses by, among other things, stealing online banking credentials, the federal prosecutor's office in Manhattan said.

The defendants allegedly used a malicious computer code or malware dubbed the "Gozi Virus" to hack into bank accounts and "steal millions of dollars," stated the indictment against Calovskis, also known as "Miami", who was arrested in Latvia.

Prosecutors say the scam unfolded between 2005 and March 2012 and that the virus was "virtually undetectable in the computers it infected." First, it was implanted in computers across Europe "on a vast scale," then around 2010 it spread to the United States, the Calovskis indictment said.

Meanwhile, Attorney Saulvedis Varpins, representing Calovskis, previously said that his client continues to categorically deny his involvement in the criminal group which used the ''Gozi Virus'' to access computer systems and steal personal banking information. Varpins told LETA previously that Calovskis has never admitted that he deliberately created or improved such a computer virus for such aims, and has not received any kind of payment for his services. ''Furthermore, we have not seen any kind of evidence confirming the U.S. point of view that Calovskis was involved with some sort of cyber-crime ring,'' Varpins said.