Human Rights Group Criticizes FBI for Arrests of Russians

The International Human Rights Defense Committee (CIPDH), a European organization of human rights lawyers and advocates, has criticized the FBI for the arrest of a Russian man, Stanislav Lisov. He has been held by Spanish police after he was arrested in January at the request of the FBI. 

CIPDH has taken the position that Lisov has the right to a fair and public hearing and presumption of innocence until proven guilty. The CIPDH website – http://cipdh.fr/cipdh-political-ccase-of-stas-lisov – states that the US extradition paperwork includes statements from an FBI agent that Lisov is guilty of hacking; it accuses certain US media of declaring his guilt; and that the case against him is political.

According to Russia Today from an article in January, “The FBI claims that Lisov, 31, is the creator and administrator of NeverQuest, a banking trojan that has defrauded thousands of people, allegedly to the tune of $5 million.”

US allies in Europe have arrested at least three Russians for hacking crimes in the months since the controversy erupted in the U.S. about possible Russian government meddling in the U.S. elections. The Russian government accuses the FBI of harassing their citizens for political purposes.

The Democratic Party leadership and U.S. mainstream media are obsessed with the alleged Russian hacking of Democratic National Committee (DNC) emails. WikiLeaks’s release of DNC emails proving that the DNC leadership derailed the campaign of reformer Bernie Sanders contributed to Hillary Clinton’s defeat in November. 

Many Sanders supporters have maintained that the main reason Clinton lost is that she was a loyal servant of Wall Street, while millions of people in the U.S. are still suffering from the massive bail out of the bankers that took place under the Bush and Obama administrations in 2008.