Moscow responded angrily on Friday to the jailing in New York of Russian arms trafficker Viktor Bout, dubbed the Merchant of Death, calling his sentence "unfounded, biased and political".
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| Bout, 45, a former Soviet army officer, was seized in Thailand in 2008 after an elaborate sting operation in which he promised to drop 100 Igla shoulder-fired missiles Photo: Reuters |
A federal court handed Bout 25 years in prison on Thursday for conspiring to sell weapons to Colombian guerrillas who were actually US federal agents in disguise.
Russia's foreign ministry accused American justice of "fulfilling a political order" and said Bout's conviction rested on a "shaky evidential base".
The ministry claimed the US had used "unbearable conditions" in detention as a means of physically and psychologically pressuring Bout during his trial. "Long before the verdict, the authorities declared V.A. Bout a 'merchant of death' and little short of an international terrorist, while the prosecution was built entirely on his imputed 'criminal intent'," it said, adding: "The Russian foreign ministry will take all necessary efforts to return V.A. Bout to the Motherland."
Bout, 45, a former Soviet army officer, was seized in Thailand in 2008 after an elaborate sting operation in which he promised to drop 100 Igla shoulder-fired missiles, 20,000 rifles and 10 million rounds of ammunition to FARC rebels in Columbia, whose representatives were actually two US government informants.
US prosecutors were able to bring a case because Bout was told the weapons could be used to shoot down US helicopter pilots working with Colombian officials.
Bout was extradited to the United States in 2010, after a two and a half year legal battle in the teeth of Russian opposition. He was found guilty after a three-week trial in November last year. Along with attempting to sell arms he was convicted of conspiring to kill US citizens and officers.
Bout, who was born in Tajikistan, came to widespread public attention in 2000 when the UK's Africa minister Peter Hain told parliament he was a "merchant of death" who delivered arms to rebels of the Revolutionary United Front in Sierra Leone, where British troops were deployed.
US and United Nations officials also named the Russian as a major supplier of sanctions-busting arms to corrupt regimes and guerrillas in Africa, South America and the Middle East. Bout's notoriety grew and his exploits inspired the 2005 Hollywood film, Lord of War, starring Nicolas Cage.
During the trial last year, Bout maintained his innocence. His lawyers said he had wanted to sell the Colombians two transport planes and strung them along with talk of weapons in the hope of securing the aircraft sale.
In an interview with the Voice of Russia radio station on Wednesday, he said: "I never expressed animosity towards American people. I never intended to kill anybody." He complained that his incarceration in a US solitary confinement cell was equal to torture, and contrasted sorely with Thai jails where there were "nice bowls with fish and plenty of flowers."
Russia's foreign minister, Sergei Lavrov, said on Friday that he would raise Bout's case at his next meeting with US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. He said there had been "unprecedented pressure" on the New York court to punish the Russian.
Senior officials in Moscow suggested that Bout could be extradited to serve out his sentence in Russia. The arms trafficker's lawyer has declared his intention to appeal. After the sentencing on Thursday, Bout's wife, Alla, said it was unfair but admitted it was a victory that the judge gave him a 25-year jail term rather than the life sentence requested by prosecutors.
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