Suspect tied to Amanda Todd extortion drops appeal; Door open to extradition: Report

The Tilburg man convicted in the Netherlands, and connected to the suicide of Canadian teenager Amanda Todd, plans to drop his appeal against his conviction in order to speed up a potential extradition to Canada, according to AD. Aydin C., now 41, was convicted in 2017 and sentenced to 10 years and 8 months in prison for the sexual abuse of 34 underage girls.

He was found guilty of coercing the underage girls to perform sex acts in front of a web camera, and then relentlessly extorting them until they gave him whatever he wanted.

Under Dutch law Aydin C. could be eligible for release after serving just over 85 months behind bars, dating back to his arrest. That means he could be released as soon as February 2021, which would likely take longer than a fresh appeal and possible re-trial, according to AD. He could then potentially face criminal charges in Canada for the Todd case at an earlier date

Amanda Todd, 15, was allegedly one of the Tilburg man's many victims. She took her own life in 2012 after posting a video on YouTube explaining in flash cards that she was psychologically tortured after stripping in front of her own web cam. Her suicide made headlines across the globe bringing more attention to the issue of cyber bullying. 

Her mother attended the trial in the Netherlands even though the Todd suicide was not included in the Dutch case against Aydin C. He was convicted in cases connected to girls in Australia, Canada, England, the Netherlands, Norway, and the United States. Among his victims was a ten-year-old girl, and reportedly also several homosexual males.

Canadian authorities have pursued extradition of Aydin C. for years, and the Dutch prosecutors said shortly after his January 2014 arrest they would not charge him in the Todd case. The Dutch Supreme Court affirmed a lower court ruling allowing for his extradition only after his court hearings in the Netherlands were concluded.

C. has maintained his innocence since his arrest. "First off, I'm innocent. I'm not the so called tormentor of Miss Amanda Todd or of anyone else for that matter." he wrote in an open letter to broadcaster RTL Nieuws. "I've been in jail exactly a year now for things I haven't done."

The Dutch courts used his refusal for taking responsibility in the 34 cases as reason to determine that he was methodical in his method of extortion. He was thus sentenced to prison time and not a psychiatric institution.

The case against C. raised further controversy in the Netherlands, as it was possibly the first time authorities in the country openly admitted to using keylogging software as part of its surveillance of a suspect.