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A Russian couple accused by the US authorities of a number of crimes related to the administration of the Z-Library pirate library disappeared without a trace in Argentina, where they were under house arrest pending extradition to the United States. Earlier, the Russians applied for political asylum, but they did not receive a response. Now they are put on the international wanted list.
Missing without a trace
The Russians, who are accused of administering the world's largest electronic pirate library Z-Library, fled from house arrest in Argentina, fearing extradition to the United States, writes TorrentFreak with reference to the publication of the Argentine edition La Voz.
In early November 2022, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and the US Department of Justice initiated the blocking and seizure of domains related to Z-Library – in total, about 140 of them were seized. Among them: z-lib.org, book4you.org, u1lib.org, bookmail.org, b-ok.org, b-ok.cc , booksc.xyz, bookos-z1.org , vn1lib. club, zlibcdn.com , usa1lib.org
Also in early November, 33-year-old Anton Napolsky and 27-year-old Valeria Ermakova, who are holders of Russian passports, were detained in Cordoba (Argentina) at the request of US law enforcement agencies. In the United States, the Russians were accused of copyright infringement, conspiracy and fraud using electronic means of communication, as well as money laundering.
The prosecution argued that the Russians, who in the United States were considered involved in the management of Z-Library, illegally enriched themselves by posting other people's works, some of which appeared on the library's website allegedly within a few hours after the official publications were published.
A journey to the south with an unexpected ending
Before the arrest, unsuspecting Napolsky and Ermakova traveled to Argentina. According to materials collected by the Argentine media, the starting point for the couple's trip was Cordoba Airport in the central part of the country. Then the car rented by the Russians headed south, through the provinces of La Pampa, Nequen, Rio Negro, Chubut, Santa Cruz-mainly along the Atlantic coast. The final destination for the man and woman was the city of El Calafate (southwest of the province of Santa Cruz), where they were arrested.
TorrentFreak claims that law enforcement agencies were able to track Napolsky and Ermakova on smartphones, but at what point the surveillance was started and how exactly it was carried out, is not specified.
In January 2023, Judge Miguel Hugo Vaca Narvaja placed the Russians under house arrest. When making the decision, he did not take into account the opinion of the prosecutor of Cordoba Maximiliano Hairabedian (Maximiliano Hairabedian), responsible for resolving the issue with the request for the extradition of the Russian couple to the United States.
The referee is new, but the result is the same
After being detained, Napolsky and Ermakova hired a Russian-speaking lawyer from the United States and flatly refused to admit to committing the offenses imputed to them. In addition, according to TorrentFreak, the Russian Embassy in Argentina took part in the fate of the couple.
The representative of Napolsky and Ermakova in court appealed to the insolvency of the extradition request filed by the US authorities, since it did not contain information about whose specific copyrights were allegedly violated as a result of the activities of the Russians.
Argentine judge Sergio Pinto, who considered the request, agreed with the defense's arguments about the need to request the missing information from the US authorities. A total of 30 days were allowed for the removal of defects in the extradition request. The court extended the term of consideration of the case for the same 30 days.
The latter decision caused the defense to doubt the judge's impartiality, La Voz notes. The lawyer of the Russians demanded the recusal of Judge Pinto, but he did not agree with the arguments of the defense. Judge Abel Sánchez Torres, who was considering the suspension of Pinto, sided with Napolski and Ermakova, and Pinto was eventually recused.
Instead of Pinto, another Argentine minister of Themis, Judge Sánchez Freyte, started considering the extradition case. As a result, the court concluded that, given the seriousness of the charges against the Russians of copyright infringement, conspiracy to commit fraud using electronic means of communication, and money laundering, granting the request for extradition to the United States would be a reasonable decision.
Without waiting for a response to a request for political asylum
While still under house arrest in Cordoba, Napolsky and Ermakova applied for political asylum in the Argentine Supreme Court. Refugee status would allow the Russians to avoid extradition. However, the couple decided not to wait until the end of consideration of the application, probably due to the fact that the prospect of extradition to the United States now looked quite real for them, since, as TorrentFreak notes, the Russians soon completely disappeared from the radar.
The absence of Napollsky and Ermakova during the next verification was recorded by specialists of Patronado del Liberado, an organization that is part of the structure of the Ministry of Justice of Argentina and, among other things, provides supervision of those under house arrest.
According to materials obtained by La Voz, from sources close to the court, employees of the service in May 2024 once again visited the home of the Russians, but they were not found there – a man and a woman disappeared without a trace, the newspaper notes.
The Patronato del Liberado immediately notified Judge Freites about the absence of Napolsky and Ermakova on the spot and their violation of the conditions of being under house arrest. According to the lawyer of the Russians, he was not able to get in touch with his clients.
Subsequently, an Argentine court issued an international arrest warrant for the Russians, since they are probably already abroad. However, as TorrentFreak notes, there is a small chance that they are still in Argentina.
What is known about the Z-Library
Z-Library is the largest repository of pirated books on the Internet with millions of regular visitors. The site, according to its administrators, contains about 12 million e-books that are available for download, including free under certain conditions.
According to the European Commission, the library is operated from China. The project's creators claim that the archive's servers are located in the United States, Panama, Russia, Germany, Finland, Malaysia and Luxembourg, and the total data size is about 160 TB.
The library developed a system for encouraging registered users – when creating an account, they got access to the e-book converter and the ability to leave reviews and an extended limit of daily downloads (more than 10 books per day). The site was funded through fundraising, advertising, and the purchase of "gift cards."
The resource was criticized by the Authors Guild and the Association of American Publishers, whose representatives called it nothing more than a "notorious pirate site" that interferes with the work of legitimate sites. In 2018, the site B-ok.org Z-Library was included in the list of distributors of counterfeit and pirated content compiled by the European Commission. Along with Z-library, the list includes the Library Genesis and Sci-Hub portals.
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• Source: https://www.lavoz.com.ar/sucesos/z-...sos-buscados-por-el-fbi-detenidos-en-cordoba/
• Source: https://www.change.org/p/restoratio...the-cessation-of-illegal-criminal-prosecution
• Source: https://torrentfreak.com/z-library-...-after-judge-approves-u-s-extradition-240708/
Missing without a trace
The Russians, who are accused of administering the world's largest electronic pirate library Z-Library, fled from house arrest in Argentina, fearing extradition to the United States, writes TorrentFreak with reference to the publication of the Argentine edition La Voz.
In early November 2022, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and the US Department of Justice initiated the blocking and seizure of domains related to Z-Library – in total, about 140 of them were seized. Among them: z-lib.org, book4you.org, u1lib.org, bookmail.org, b-ok.org, b-ok.cc , booksc.xyz, bookos-z1.org , vn1lib. club, zlibcdn.com , usa1lib.org
Also in early November, 33-year-old Anton Napolsky and 27-year-old Valeria Ermakova, who are holders of Russian passports, were detained in Cordoba (Argentina) at the request of US law enforcement agencies. In the United States, the Russians were accused of copyright infringement, conspiracy and fraud using electronic means of communication, as well as money laundering.
The prosecution argued that the Russians, who in the United States were considered involved in the management of Z-Library, illegally enriched themselves by posting other people's works, some of which appeared on the library's website allegedly within a few hours after the official publications were published.
A journey to the south with an unexpected ending
Before the arrest, unsuspecting Napolsky and Ermakova traveled to Argentina. According to materials collected by the Argentine media, the starting point for the couple's trip was Cordoba Airport in the central part of the country. Then the car rented by the Russians headed south, through the provinces of La Pampa, Nequen, Rio Negro, Chubut, Santa Cruz-mainly along the Atlantic coast. The final destination for the man and woman was the city of El Calafate (southwest of the province of Santa Cruz), where they were arrested.
TorrentFreak claims that law enforcement agencies were able to track Napolsky and Ermakova on smartphones, but at what point the surveillance was started and how exactly it was carried out, is not specified.
In January 2023, Judge Miguel Hugo Vaca Narvaja placed the Russians under house arrest. When making the decision, he did not take into account the opinion of the prosecutor of Cordoba Maximiliano Hairabedian (Maximiliano Hairabedian), responsible for resolving the issue with the request for the extradition of the Russian couple to the United States.
The referee is new, but the result is the same
After being detained, Napolsky and Ermakova hired a Russian-speaking lawyer from the United States and flatly refused to admit to committing the offenses imputed to them. In addition, according to TorrentFreak, the Russian Embassy in Argentina took part in the fate of the couple.
The representative of Napolsky and Ermakova in court appealed to the insolvency of the extradition request filed by the US authorities, since it did not contain information about whose specific copyrights were allegedly violated as a result of the activities of the Russians.
Argentine judge Sergio Pinto, who considered the request, agreed with the defense's arguments about the need to request the missing information from the US authorities. A total of 30 days were allowed for the removal of defects in the extradition request. The court extended the term of consideration of the case for the same 30 days.
The latter decision caused the defense to doubt the judge's impartiality, La Voz notes. The lawyer of the Russians demanded the recusal of Judge Pinto, but he did not agree with the arguments of the defense. Judge Abel Sánchez Torres, who was considering the suspension of Pinto, sided with Napolski and Ermakova, and Pinto was eventually recused.
Instead of Pinto, another Argentine minister of Themis, Judge Sánchez Freyte, started considering the extradition case. As a result, the court concluded that, given the seriousness of the charges against the Russians of copyright infringement, conspiracy to commit fraud using electronic means of communication, and money laundering, granting the request for extradition to the United States would be a reasonable decision.
Without waiting for a response to a request for political asylum
While still under house arrest in Cordoba, Napolsky and Ermakova applied for political asylum in the Argentine Supreme Court. Refugee status would allow the Russians to avoid extradition. However, the couple decided not to wait until the end of consideration of the application, probably due to the fact that the prospect of extradition to the United States now looked quite real for them, since, as TorrentFreak notes, the Russians soon completely disappeared from the radar.
The absence of Napollsky and Ermakova during the next verification was recorded by specialists of Patronado del Liberado, an organization that is part of the structure of the Ministry of Justice of Argentina and, among other things, provides supervision of those under house arrest.
According to materials obtained by La Voz, from sources close to the court, employees of the service in May 2024 once again visited the home of the Russians, but they were not found there – a man and a woman disappeared without a trace, the newspaper notes.
The Patronato del Liberado immediately notified Judge Freites about the absence of Napolsky and Ermakova on the spot and their violation of the conditions of being under house arrest. According to the lawyer of the Russians, he was not able to get in touch with his clients.
Subsequently, an Argentine court issued an international arrest warrant for the Russians, since they are probably already abroad. However, as TorrentFreak notes, there is a small chance that they are still in Argentina.
What is known about the Z-Library
Z-Library is the largest repository of pirated books on the Internet with millions of regular visitors. The site, according to its administrators, contains about 12 million e-books that are available for download, including free under certain conditions.
According to the European Commission, the library is operated from China. The project's creators claim that the archive's servers are located in the United States, Panama, Russia, Germany, Finland, Malaysia and Luxembourg, and the total data size is about 160 TB.
The library developed a system for encouraging registered users – when creating an account, they got access to the e-book converter and the ability to leave reviews and an extended limit of daily downloads (more than 10 books per day). The site was funded through fundraising, advertising, and the purchase of "gift cards."
The resource was criticized by the Authors Guild and the Association of American Publishers, whose representatives called it nothing more than a "notorious pirate site" that interferes with the work of legitimate sites. In 2018, the site B-ok.org Z-Library was included in the list of distributors of counterfeit and pirated content compiled by the European Commission. Along with Z-library, the list includes the Library Genesis and Sci-Hub portals.
---
• Source: https://www.lavoz.com.ar/sucesos/z-...sos-buscados-por-el-fbi-detenidos-en-cordoba/
• Source: https://www.change.org/p/restoratio...the-cessation-of-illegal-criminal-prosecution
• Source: https://torrentfreak.com/z-library-...-after-judge-approves-u-s-extradition-240708/