HAMILTON — A lawyer for a Canadian man accused in a massive hack of Yahoo emails says his client poses no threat to the public and detaining him would undermine public confidence in the justice system.
Karim Baratov was arrested under the Extradition Act last month after U.S. authorities indicted him and three others — two of them allegedly officers of Russia's Federal Security Service — for computer hacking, economic espionage and other crimes.
American authorities have alleged in court documents that Baratov, who was born in Kazakhstan, poses an "extremely high flight risk" in part due to his alleged ties to Russian intelligence agents and his financial resources.
The defence says Baratov's father works from home and would monitor his son around the clock, and while no bail plan is 100 per cent sure, the one they've proposed is as close as it can get.
Akhmet Tokbergenov has also said he and his wife are ready to uphold any restrictions the court imposes on their son as a condition of his release.
One of the 22-year-old's lawyers told the bail hearing in Hamilton that "there is no place to which Mr. Baratov could flee," since he has no known ties to any other country.
The Crown has said that if convicted in the U.S., Baratov faces up to 20 years in prison.
