Tornado Cash developer Alexei Percev, who was sentenced to five years and four months in prison for money laundering by a three-judge panel in the Netherlands, will remain in prison while his appeal is heard after his bail application was denied.
After Pertsev’s conviction, the developer’s legal team quickly filed an appeal with the Court of Appeal in Hertogenbosch, requesting bail and hoping to prepare for the trial from home by accessing the Internet.
But according to DL News, the bail request was denied, which surprised his lawyers. Pertsev’s prison reportedly denied the developer access to a computer to help lawyers prepare for trial.
“Alexey will spend the next year in prison while his defense team prepares for an appeal hearing. This is a massive judicial error. A developer does not deserve to be in prison for the actions of a third party,” posted the X account, associated with JusticeDAO, which is organizing donations for the legal defense of the Tornado Cash developer.
Perchev is one of three Tornado Cash developers targeted for their work on a cryptocurrency mixing protocol. While advocates argue that Tornado Cash protects privacy on the Ethereum blockchain and that targeting developers could have a chilling effect on developers writing software for the blockchain, prosecutors generally argue that Tornado Cash developers intentionally used the platform to launder stolen funds, or at least failed to do so.
Co-founder Roman Storm’s lawsuit continues in the United States, and co-founder Roman Semenov remains on the run.
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