14 DAY TRIAL // A Slovenian court has refused to extradite Victor Faur, a Romanian national accused of hacking into NASA systems, to the United States. Instead, Maribor’s higher court has decided to set the man free.
The United States charged Faur in 2007 for hacking into the computer systems of NASA, the Department of Energy, and the US Navy. He was later arrested by Romanian authorities.
Since at the time, Romania and the US did not have an extradition treaty that covered hacking, he was tried in his home country and sentenced to 16 months in prison, suspended, and ordered to pay $240,000 (€176,000).
If extradited to the US, the man would face up to 54 years in prison.
However, in October 2013, the 34-year-old was arrested in Slovenia during a routine road control based on a US international arrest warrant.
According to AFP, the Slovenian higher court rejected the extradition request, arguing that Faur couldn’t be tried again for the same crimes for which a Romanian court had already sentenced him.
After being released, Faur thanked Slovenian authorities for not bowing to US pressure.