Amanda Todd’s Accused Cyberbully Facing 11 Years in Dutch Prison *UPDATED*

UPDATE - 17 March 2017

Aydin Coban, 38, was convicted for fraud and blackmail using the internet on Thursday in the Netherlands. 

His sentence of 10 years and eight months was the maximum sought by prosecutors. Dutch authorities said the decision was based on Coban's risk to reoffend.​

A press release from the Dutch court said Coban "deceived tenants, committed computer intrusion and blackmailed a man online by pretending to be a boy who was looking for sexual contacts."

Former lawyer

Coban's lawyer Robert Malewicz didn't specify the grounds on which the latest appeal will be based.

But on Thursday, a former lawyer for Coban said he expected the case would be appealed to the European Court, in part because of the surveillance tools used by investigators.

"In my vision, the court made a mistake by accepting the use of the keylogger. The European Court is very strict when it comes to privacy and I expect that if this case will be handled by the European Court, there will be a whole other outcome," Christian van Dijk wrote to CBC News in an email.

"The question will be if the use of secret surveillance tools by governmental organizations are accepted, and if so, what are the requirements. ... This case will have influence on many other judgments in Europe."

Keyloggers are hardware devices that capture computer keystrokes. They can be used to gather personal information like usernames and passwords by tracking each letter and number pressed on a keyboard.​

Amanda Todd case

On Friday, Dan McLaughlin with the B.C. Criminal Justice Branch said that process could "further delay his extradition" to Canada.

Original story 17 Feb 2017

Not for his abuse of Amanda - he will be extradited to Canada

to face those charges

By Mike Corder The Associated Press

A man linked to the cyberbullying of Amanda Todd is facing

an 11-year prison sentence in Europe

THE CANADIAN PRESS/Jonathan Hayward

THE HAGUE, Netherlands (AP) — Dutch prosecutors on Thursday sought the maximum possible sentence – nearly 11 years – for a man charged with cyberbullying dozens of young girls and gay men and who is also wanted in Canada for his alleged involvement in the cyberbullying of B.C. teen Amanda Todd.

In an emotional closing statement, prosecutor Annet Kramer urged judges at a court in Amsterdam to sentence the 38-year-old suspect, Amanda Todd’s accused cyberbully facing 11 years in Dutch prison, to 10 years and eight months in prison, saying he subjected some of his victims to years of emotional abuse.

“To do justice in any way to the gravity of the facts, and the refined way in which the suspect systematically put his own interests far above those of his victims, the prosecution believes that there is no room to impose anything other than the maximum sentence,” Kramer told judges at a high-security Amsterdam courthouse, according to a written copy of her statement.

In Canada, Coban faces a separate trial in the cyberbullying of Todd, a 15-year-old girl who drew global attention to online abuse when she posted a YouTube video recounting her ordeal. She later took her own life.

In that case, Coban faces charges including extortion, possession of child pornography and attempting to lure a child online. A Dutch court has approved the suspect’s extradition following his trial in Amsterdam. He has appealed that decision and denies involvement in any cyber bullying.

Todd brought cyber bullying to mainstream attention in Canada and around the world in 2012 by posting a video in which she told her story with handwritten signs, describing how she was lured by a stranger to expose her breasts on a webcam.

The picture ended up on a Facebook page made by the stranger, to which her friends were added. She was repeatedly bullied, despite changing schools, before finally taking her own life weeks after posting the video

In his Dutch trial, the man faces more than 70 charges linked to the alleged abuse of 34 young girls and five gay men.

Prosecutors allege that the suspect used aliases on online chat sites to portray himself as a woman or boy to befriend his victims. He would persuade them to strip in front of their webcams and then use the images to blackmail them, according to prosecutors, threatening to post the images online if they did not perform more sex acts in front of their webcams.

Kramer used her closing remarks to pay tribute to Todd’s mother, Carol, who watched parts of the trial.

“She works to prevent acts like these and that is important,” Kramer said, according to a written copy of her statement. “This case shows that in no uncertain terms.”