General News
Meropi Kyriacou Honored as TNH Educator of the Year
NEW YORK – Meropi Kyriacou, the new Principal of The Cathedral School in Manhattan, was honored as The National Herald’s Educator of the Year.
ATHENS — A Greek high court on Thursday rejected Russian bitcoin fraud suspect Alexander Vinnik’s final appeal against his extradition to France, ending a more than two-year legal tug-of-war between three countries seeking to put him on trial.
Vinnik’s Greek lawyer, Zoi Konstandopoulou, said her client was flown to France hours after the Council of State’s decision, citing his lawyer in France. She said he had been taken to a hospital as he was on the 35th day of a hunger strike protesting the prospect of his being extradited to France.
Greek authorities were unable to confirm lat Thursday that Vinnik had been sent to France.
Earlier, the Council of State upheld last month’s decision by Justice Minister Konstantinos Tsiaras that Vinnik should be extradited first to France, then to the U.S. and finally to his native Russia.
Vinnik, 39, was arrested in the summer of 2017 while on a family holiday in northern Greece, at the request of U.S. authorities. They accused him of laundering billions of dollars through BTC-e, one of the world’s largest digital currency exchanges, which he allegedly operated.
He denies wrongdoing and had asked to be extradited to Russia, where he faces lesser charges. Greek court officials have said France wants to put him on trial for alleged cybercrime, money laundering, membership in a criminal organization and extortion.
Vinnik has been on a hunger strike since Tsiaras’ decision just over a month ago — his second hunger strike since he was first ordered jailed in Greece pending conclusion of the exhausting and legally complex triple extradition case.
Russia’s foreign ministry and embassy in Athens strongly protested the extradition order to France. The Russian bid to put him on trial came shortly after Vinnik’s arrest on the U.S. request, while France made its own request later.
Greek courts had approved all three requests, and the final decision was taken by the justice minister.
The Council of State ruled Thursday that the minister had full authority to decide on the order of the extraditions when dealing with conflicting requests. It also noted that were Vinnik to be extradited first to Russia, Russian law would prevent his subsequent extradition to any other country.
Vinnik says says he acted as a technical consultant to the BTC-e platform and had no knowledge of any illegal activity.
NEW YORK – Meropi Kyriacou, the new Principal of The Cathedral School in Manhattan, was honored as The National Herald’s Educator of the Year.
DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza (AP) — An international team of doctors visiting a hospital in central Gaza was prepared for the worst.
ASTORIA – Greek Minister of the Interior Niki Kerameus offered an informative presentation on postal voting in the upcoming European Union elections for Greek citizens in a well-attended event held at the St.
NICOSIA - A meeting between the ministers of energy for Cyprus and Israel - George Papanastasiou and Eli Cohen - led to an agreement that the countries would make an underwater electric cable link a top priority, linking them to Europe.
LONDON (AP) — The British Museum on Thursday appointed National Portrait Gallery chief Nicholas Cullinan as its new director, as the 265-year-old institution grapples with the apparent theft of hundreds of artifacts and growing international scrutiny of its collection.
ATHENS - The European Union needs to get involved in the case of the two-year jail sentence given ethnic Greek Fredi Beleri who was elected Mayor of the seaside town of Himare and said the trial was a farce to get him and protect Prime Minister Edi Rama’s business friends.