ROME, Jan 7: An Italian court has agreed to extradite to the United States a Russian man accused of fixing figure skating events at the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City, the Russian’s lawyer said on Tuesday.

The court in Venice ruled in favour of the extradition after a U.S. grand jury last year charged Alimzhan Tokhtakhounov on five counts, including conspiracy to commit bribery related to sporting contests.

Tokhtakhounov’s lawyer told Reuters the extradition would not be immediate and that they would appeal against the ruling. Tokhtakhounov is in custody in Venice, pending extradition.

Tokhtakhounov, a Russian citizen born in Uzbekistan, was arrested by police last July in Italy — where he was living at a seaside house on the northwestern coast — in response to a complaint filed by New York prosecutors.

His arrest was linked to a controversy that prompted Olympic officials to take the unprecedented step of awarding a second set of gold medals to the Canadian runners up in the pairs skating event won by Russia.—Reuters