A RUSSIAN computer programmer has been arrested in Barcelona on suspicion of being involved in his country's meddling with the autumn's US elections.
According to spokesman for the criminal division of the USA's Department of Justice, Peter Carr, the case remains sub judice but the accused may have been involved in the possible electoral rigging scam which is under debate in the North American nation at the moment.
The criminal division works independently from the State National Security department in the USA, which is in charge of investigating cyber-crimes in other countries.
Piotr Levashov, 36, was on holiday in the north-eastern Spanish city with his wife and son, according to Russian TV channel RT, who had Levashov's wife speaking on the news.
She said police burst into the apartment they had rented there, arrested Piotr and confiscated his IT equipment.
His arrest was later confirmed by Russian ambassador in Spain, Andrei Konstantinov, speaking to his national news agency Sputnik.
The Levashov family lives in Saint Petersburg and had been under an arrest warrant issued by the USA.
Maria Levashova has appealed for help from the Russian human rights ombudsman and vice-chairman of the Russian office for the International Committee for the Protection of Human Rights, Alexandr Ionov, who is currently defending another programmer from the country, Stanislav Lisov, in custody in Spain since January thanks to another US arrest warrant.
Ms Levashova says a preliminary hearing has already been carried out in a Madrid court from Barcelona via Skype, ending with her husband being remanded in custody.
Piotr Levashov first hit the headlines in 2009 when he appeared in Newsweek's list of suspects behind a massive global spam email emission.
He was also known as Peter Severa, and appeared at number seven on the US' list of cyber society offenders.
He was also linked to Alan Ralski, whose name became famous in 2003 for leading a gigantic spam network which led to over a billion junk mails sent out every day.
Ralski was sentenced in Detroit, USA, and finally released from jail in 2012, although Levashov was never charged.
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