Article Details
British court prevents Portuguese hacker extradition to the US
Published on September 19, 2025
The British government acknowledged that Diogo Santos Coelho has been entitled on the internet since he was 14, which led him to create the RaidForums website, which are related to the crimes of which he is accused.
The Supreme Court of the United Kingdom annulled a decision from the Interior Ministry aimed at the extradition of Diogo Santos Coelho, 25 -year -old Portuguese citizen to the United States, on charges of cyber crimes, for which he could be sentenced to a 52 -year prison sentence, according to The Guardian.
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The British government acknowledged that the Portuguese hacker, which has a diagnosis of autism, has been enticed and explored on the Internet by adults since he was 14 years old, a situation that motivated him to create the RaidForums website, which are related to alleged crimes.
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"After years of feeling imprisoned in a nightmare, this sentence looks like the first ray of light," Coelho told The Guardian."I feel that I was properly heard, that the Court analyzed the real facts of my case, recognized the injustice of the situation and gave me hope that my life does not need to be in this state of limbo forever."
It was considered that Rabbit is at high risk of committing suicide, and he said fear of life if he is arrested in US territory, where he will not have family support.
The young hacker is accused of creating and managing RaidForums, one of the largest illegal data storage and sharing platforms in the world.After being closed in 2022, as part of an international police operation carried out by the FBI, US authorities demanded that Rabbit was in pre-trial detention in the United Kingdom.
Both Portugal and the United States filed extradition requests to Rabbit.Last year, the then secretary of state for internal affairs, James Cleverly, said the US request should have priority about Portuguese.
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The court stated that Cleverly should have considered Rabbit's proximity to family and friends, his connection with their legal systems, the probable results in criminal process and his right to support for his mental health, keeping in mind that he was considered a victim of modern slavery, ”according to The Guardian.
It was also highlighted that "the applicant was diagnosed with autism and having other mental health problems, besides the risk of suicide, is also an important part of the circumstances."
The hacker has opposed the extradition requested by the Americans since the beginning of the lawsuit, as if arrested in the US, it could face a sentence of up to 52 years.He later managed to convince the Portuguese authorities to make an extradition request to the United Kingdom."In return, my client agreed to give his consent to extradition and offered to collaborate with the Portuguese authorities to identify or try to identify who transacted the data," said João Medeiros, Coelho Defense Lawyer.
"My position has always been clear and has never changed: I consented to extradition to Portugal, my country of origin, and I am fully prepared to face the justice system there. I never tried to escape responsibility, I just wanted to be treated with justice and humanity. This decision took a huge weight from above, and I hope the Secretariat of State respects the trial of the court and allows it to happen," Coelho told The Guardian.
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The Supreme Court judge also concluded that the defendant should have had permission to submit allegations before the decision of the Interior Ministry, and that Portugal and the US should also do so.The hearing will now be in charge of the current Secretary of State for Internal Affairs, Shabana Mahmood, to whom Coelho may present arguments about why the Portuguese request should have priority.
It was also stated in court that the original decision was made incorrectly, supported by the belief that all victims of the alleged crime were in the United States, when after all one of the main victims was the Portuguese state.
Diogo Santos Coelho founded RaidForums when he was 14 years old.The site had about half a million users and negotiated massive amounts of stolen online data, such as credit card numbers, bank account references, access credentials or passwords and users names.The hacker usually received committees paid in cryptocurrencies.