UPDATE - 17 March 2017
2nd UPDATE - 28 Jan 2025
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.
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28 Jan 2025
Supreme Court confirms 6 year prison sentence for extortion of Amanda Todd
Those in the Netherlands in life threatening danger should immediately dial 112 for emergencies, and anyone suffering from depression or contemplating suicide can call 113 Zelfmoordpreventie at any time by dialing either 113 or 0800-0113, or by visiting 113.nl.
The Supreme Court confirmed that Adyin Coban must serve six years in prison for the extortion of Canadian teen girl Amanda Todd, ultimately leading to her suicide. A Canadian court sentenced him to 13 years in prison, but a Dutch court converted that to 6 years according to the Dutch standards. That conversion will be upheld, the Supreme Court ruled on Tuesday.
That is quite a conversion factor, especially since Canadian sentences are notoriously light.
In 2018, a Dutch court sentenced Coban to 11 years in prison for digitally stalking 33 minor girls and scamming four gay men. Amanda Todd’s extortion and suicide did not form part of this trial. The man was then extradited to Canada in 2020 to stand trial for Todd’s case.
In October 2022, a Canadian court sentenced Coban to 13 years in prison for extorting Amanda Todd. In December 2023, the court in Amsterdam sentenced Coban to six years in prison for the crime, translating the Canadian sentence to Dutch terms. The Dutch Public Prosecution Service (OM) had recommended he serve 4.5 years for extorting the girl. Coban lodged an appeal in cassation with the Supreme Court.
Coban’s lawyers argued that Todd’s case could have been considered part of the Dutch case involving the 33 other girls, citing Article 63 of the Dutch Criminal Code, which regulates the maximum sentence that can be imposed if a person has committed multiple crimes that could have been assessed simultaneously. Coban already got the maximum sentence for extorting the 33 other girls, so the sentence for Todd’s extortion should have been converted to zero days in prison, the lawyer argued.
But like the Amsterdam court, the Supreme Court ruled that Article 64 does not apply to conversion proceedings. “Under the applicable regulations, there is no obligation in conversion proceedings to consider prior convictions in Dutch criminal proceedings for a separate offense,” the Supreme Court said.
Amanda Todd took her own life in 2012 at the age of 15. The Canadian teenager’s suicide made headlines worldwide due to a video she posted online, telling on flashcards how she was convinced to send nudes to a man she thought loved her, and then blackmailed and extorted with them.
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.”
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