Finland decides to extradite suspected Russian hacker to U.S.

The Finnish Ministry of Justice decided on Friday to extradite a suspected Russian hacker to the United States for trial.

The ministry said the Russian man, Maxim Senakh, was suspected of having commit computer fraud and irregularities in the United States and elsewhere.

The Russian citizen was detained in Finland in August 2015 at the request of the United States.

Senakh has been charged with several cases of computer fraud and misdemeanors. He allegedly used malware called Ebury to break into thousands of servers located in the United States, Finland and other places, and gained millions of dollars of benefits.

The Supreme Court of Finland studied the conditions for extradition and did not find any obstacle to it. The extradition decision cannot be appealed.

The ministry said Finland and the United States had a bilateral agreement on the suspect's extradition.

According to information obtained by Finnish national broadcaster Yle, Russia declared Senakh's detention illegal, but did not request his repatriation.

Juhani Korhonen, counselor at the justice ministry, told Yle that Russia did not have judicial grounds for demanding the suspect be sent back to his home country.

An extradition requires that a person has either been convicted of a crime in Russia or has been ordered to be arrested on suspicion of a crime, explained Korhonen.

The American authorities are expected to escort Senakh from Finland to the United States within a month, said Yle. Endit