Russian arms dealer to spend 25 years behind bars

Russian arms dealer to spend 25 years behind bars

PanARMENIAN.Net - Russian arms dealer Viktor Bout was sentenced on April 5 to 25 years behind bars by a federal judge in New York, CNN reports.

"I am not guilty," Bout said through a translator. "I never intended to kill anyone. I never intended to sell any arms to anyone. God knows this is the truth."

Last year Bout, who was dubbed "the merchant of death" by his accusers, was convicted on four counts of conspiracy to kill Americans, acquire and export anti-aircraft missiles and provide material support to a terrorist organization.

He had faced the possibility of life in prison.

"Viktor Bout has been international arms trafficking enemy number one for many years, arming some of the most violent conflicts around the globe," said Preet Bharara, the U.S. attorney in Manhattan. "He was finally brought to justice in an American court for agreeing to provide a staggering number of military-grade weapons to an avowed terrorist organization committed to killing Americans."

Bout's wife, Alla, said Viktor did not accept this case from the beginning as a lawful case, starting from the process in Thailand to his extradition to United States.

After a sting operation in 2008, he was arrested in Thailand and in 2010 was extradited to the United States following a protracted court proceeding.

He was convicted in November after a three-week trial in New York.

The Russian businessman also has been accused of assembling a fleet of cargo planes to traffic military-grade weapons to conflict zones around the world since the 1990s.

Bout has maintained that he operated legitimate businesses and had acted as a mere logistics provider. His exact age is unclear, but he is believed to be in his late 40s or 50s, with his age in dispute because of different passports and documents.

His lawyer, Albert Dayan, filed a letter last week urging Judge Shira A. Scheindlin not to "become an unwilling party" in what he called a "wrongful prosecution" for "purely political reasons."

The lawyer claimed that Bout was picked out by the United States government and lured into a crime manufactured by the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration, in which the agency played "the role of judge, jury and executioner."

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