Two Russian citizens arrested for running the pirate e-book site Z-Library have reportedly escaped house arrest in Argentina and vanished after a court approved their extradition to the United States.
Accused by the US of criminal copyright infringement, wire fraud, and money laundering, Anton Napolsky and Valeriia Ermakova were arrested in 2022. Until last May, they were being detained in Argentina while a court mulled the Department of Justice's extradition request, and the US quickly moved to seize Z-Library domains.
But according to a translated article from a local publication called La Voz, the pair suddenly disappeared after submitting a request "to be considered political refugees" in order to "avoid being sent to the US." Napolsky and Ermakova had long denied wrongdoing, and apparently they "ran away" after giving up on the legal process. They reportedly even stopped talking to their defense lawyer.
Ars was not immediately able to reach the DOJ or the Patronato del Liberado—the agency in Argentina that confirmed to La Voz that the couple had escaped—to verify the report.
Officials told La Voz that the Patronato del Liberado was charged with monitoring the Z-Library admins' house arrest and "were surprised to find that there was no trace of them" during a routine check-in last May.
According to La Voz, officials believed at that point that Napolsky and Ermakova were still in Argentina. However, after the courts were informed of their escape, a judge ordered their international arrest, suggesting that the court suspected they may have planned to leave the country. There have been no reports since indicating that the couple has resurfaced. TorrentFreak, which has been closely monitoring the case, opined that "the pair could be anywhere by now."
Z-Library defends admins
The court process leading up to the extradition order was tense, TorrentFreak reported, with Napolsky and Ermakova partly arguing that extradition was inappropriate because the US had never specified "which copyrighted works had allegedly been infringed."
The pair succeeded in removing the original judge from the case after proving he was biased to the US. But the replacement judge, Abel Sánchez Torres, ultimately ordered their extradition "on five charges classified as illegal copyright, conspiracy to commit electronic fraud, electronic fraud, and conspiracy to launder money," La Voz reported. At that point, Sánchez Torres also ordered that Napolsky and Ermakova remain under house arrest.
Ars could not immediately reach the Z-Library team to comment on the admins' reported escape, but Z-Library has long defended Napolsky and Ermakova as innocent. In a Change.org petition, the Z-Library team wrote that both were "project participants who ensure the operation of the platform" and were "not involved in uploading files" the US considered copyright-infringing, calling their detention "unfair and unacceptable."
"Their detention occurred without compliance with legal norms and with numerous procedural violations, and the FBI request contained knowingly false data on the existence of a court sanction for arrest," the Z-Library team wrote, clarifying that "a court sanction for arrest has been issued after the arrest" but not before.
The petition is addressed to US Attorney General Merrick Garland and Argentine officials, requesting access to seized Z-Library domains to be restored. It currently has 146,000 out of 150,000 signatures sought, with Z-Library fans defending the platform as providing critical access for people without financial means to knowledge and diverse educational resources.
"Without a doubt, blocking Z-Library seriously hinders academic activity and impedes scientific development," the petition said, insisting that the US has ignored that "Z-Library contains many unique books and documents that may become inaccessible to the public. This would be a serious blow to the cultural and scientific heritage of humankind."
The Z-Library team thinks that the US should be pursuing each copyright infringement case on its site separately, rather than targeting the whole platform for takedown.
"We call for the restoration of Z-Library and for a fair solution that takes into account both the rights of authors and the need for people to have free access to educational resources," the petition said.
Z-Library plans to expand access worldwide
Blocking Z-Library has done little to stop users from accessing the platform so far, with Z-Library sidestepping domain seizures by providing each user with a secret URL last year. Those secret URLs kept working for months while the US seized more domains, and since the arrest of Napolsky and Ermakova, contrary to the DOJ's goal to shut down the platform, Z-Library has seemingly only continued growing.
While the admins were reportedly busy escaping house arrest in May, the Z-Library team was also busy, announcing "significant improvements" to its online reader. Now Z-Library books open in separate tabs, making it more seamless for readers to access multiple resources at once. Perhaps most alluringly, readers can also now save their progress without leaving the book open.
"You can close the book without worrying about losing your place," Z-Library's blog said. "The next time you open the book, you'll be able to continue reading right where you left off."
These improvements appear largely funded by readers who are extremely dedicated to keeping the site alive. Z-Library recently announced that its 2024 spring fundraising campaign was a "success," providing "all the necessary funds for our project development."
"We extend our heartfelt appreciation to everyone who has made a contribution to our library," Z-Library's blog said. "In these challenging times, your support serves as our inspiration to continue working hard on this project."
Z-Library has faced several challenges since the US began targeting the site, including takedowns in other countries, like India, where the US has blocked domains without permission from officials, Z-Library's Change.org petition said. According to TorrentFreak, this has affected access in Africa, Sweden, and China as well.
"Such an action undermines the principle of independence and sovereignty of these countries on the Internet and calls into question the right of states to regulate their own information spaces," Z-Library argued. They've demanded "an end" to the US' "interference in the digital sovereignty of other countries."
Rather than bow to pressure, the Z-Library team has only promised to continue expanding access to the platform, which it claims is already the world's largest e-book library. Among "future plans" detailed in a June blog, Z-Library promised to "increase the availability of the app worldwide."
The shadow library is holding out hope that courts will agree that copyright law does not necessarily doom Z-Library.
"Undoubtedly, it is important to respect copyright and intellectual property law," Z-Library's Change.org petition said. "In the case of possible copyright violations, we insist that such cases should be considered separately, rather than resulting in restricting access to the entire resource and thus violating users' rights to access the rest of the unique collection."
