Frederic Belot, the French lawyer who has been representing Russian crypto entrepreneur and alleged money launderer Alexander Vinnik in courts for years, has written to Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All of Russia with a request to help for his client’s return to the homeland.

“The Vinnik case for the United States is not a legal, but a political trial,” the attorney said in the letter, quoted by the Russian Tass news agency. In the U.S., he may face imprisonment for more than 50 years, Belot warned and emphasized: Now the only thing that can save Alexander is his exchange, among other Russians, for American citizens imprisoned in Russia.