Russian national Nikulin's trial in US moved by at least 48 hours over Coronavirus - Court

The trial of Russian national Yevgeniy Nikulin, accused of computer hacking by the US authorities, which started last week, has been postponed by at least 48 hours due to the novel coronavirus (COVID-19), the court said in its order.

The trial has been delayed due to COVID-19-related restrictions on the movement of citizens in and around San Francisco.

Earlier, Nikulin's lawyers asked the court to move the trial to a later date due to a prosecution witness' possible exposure to the novel coronavirus.

The US authorities have accused Nikulin of hacking into computers belonging to LinkedIn, Dropbox and Formspring online services. Nikulin has pleaded not guilty to the charges laid against him.

The Russian authorities, who charged Nikulin with Internet fraud in 2009, requested his extradition on the same day as the United States, but the Czech Republic's Justice Ministry granted the US request.