A US Federal Court sentenced the son of a Russian deputy to 27 years in prison
The Federal District Court in Seattle sentenced Russian citizen, Roman Seleznev, the son of a State Duma deputy from the LDPR party Valery Seleznev, to 27 years in prison in a cyber fraud case.
In August last year, Roman Seleznev was convicted of fraud, computer hacking, possession of illegally acquired credit cards and theft of personal data.
In a written statement made by Seleznev and read out by his lawyer, Igor Litvak, the convict called the verdict "equivalent to a death sentence" and "undeserved," and also asked the Russian authorities for help. "As a citizen of Russia, I send a message to the officials of my country: please help me, I beg you," the statement said.
Seleznev’s father, in a comment to RIA Novosti, called the verdict "foregone and cannibalistic."
The court in Seattle refused to take into account Seleznev’s confession. Judge Richard Jones explained that the confession, made after the verdict by the jury, "did not meet the expectations of the court."
The Russian, who is 32 years old, was found guilty by a jury in August 2016 under five sections of the criminal code, with 38 counts of criminal offenses. The prosecution said that Seleznev inflicted damage worth 170 million dollars. Prosecutors at the trial presented evidence that showed that when he was detained in 2014, there were 1.7 million stolen credit card numbers on Seleznev's computer, and overall nearly three million numbers were stolen.
Seleznev’s father and the Russian Foreign Ministry regard the detention as a “kidnapping”. U.S. law enforcement officials said that the Russian was detained in strict accordance with international law.