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By Joseph Ax
NEW YORK, April 5 (Reuters) – Viktor Bout, a Russian arms
dealer caught in an undercover sting by U.S. agents posing as
Colombian guerrillas, was sentenced to 25 years in prison on
Thursday by a judge in New York, prompting charges of political
bias from Russia.
Bout, the subject of a book titled “Merchant of Death”,
asserted his innocence during the sentencing, telling the judge
through a Russian interpreter, “I never intended to kill anyone.
I never intended to sell arms to anyone. God knows this truth.”
“These people know this truth,” he said, pointing at federal
agents sitting in the front row. “They will live with this truth
… God forgive you. You will answer to him, not to me.”
Bout, whom Amnesty International says has been involved in
embargo-busting arms deals to human rights abusers in Angola,
Liberia, Sierra Leone and the Democratic Republic of Congo, was
arrested in Bangkok in 2008 after a U.S. Drug Enforcement
Administration (DEA) sting operation and later extradited to New
York to face trial.
He was convicted by a Manhattan federal court jury last fall
after a three-week trial that centered on charges he agreed to
sell arms to people he thought were Colombian militants intent
on attacking American soldiers.
Russia said the “groundless and biased” ruling was
politically motivated. The Foreign Ministry said Russia would
continue to seek Bout’s return to his country.
“The American judicial system, carrying out an obvious
political order, ignored the arguments of the defence lawyers,”
a ministry statement said.
The sentencing comes at an uncertain time for Russia-U.S.
ties, with Vladimir Putin’s return to the Kremlin next month and
President Barack Obama facing a re-election battle, but analysts
said it was unlikely to significantly sour ties.
“There may be additional declarations (from Russia), but I
absolutely do not think this will affect relations,” said Maria
Lipman, an expert at the Carnegie Moscow Center. “This is not a
new case and … the result of the trial was predictable.”
Bout’s capture came less than a year after the publication
of “Merchant of Death: Money, Guns, Planes, and the Man Who
Makes War Possible”, written by investigative journalists
Douglas Farah and Stephen Braun. The 2007 book chronicled Bout’s
life as an arms dealer and how he evaded capture for years.
He was convicted of two counts of conspiracy to kill U.S.
nationals and officers of the United States and one count each
of conspiracy to sell anti-aircraft missiles and providing
material support to a terrorist organization.
His attorneys have said they would appeal.
Defense attorney Albert Dayan argued on Thursday that the
government’s case was based entirely on Bout’s promises, rather
than his actions, and therefore had “built-in reasonable doubt”.
He said the crimes for which Bout was convicted were
intended to target “terrorists, people bent on destroying
Americans, people who aren’t deterred by life sentences. This is
not Viktor Bout”.
SENTENCE MITIGATED BY STING
U.S. District Judge Shira Scheindlin noted that federal
sentencing guidelines called for a life sentence, due in part to
Bout’s conviction on a crime of terrorism, but the fact his
conduct was the result of a sting was a mitigating factor,
despite his long history of arms dealing.
“But for the approach made in this determined sting
operation, it is unclear that Mr. Bout would have committed the
charged crimes,” she said.
U.S. informants posed as arms buyers from the Revolutionary
Armed Forces of Colombia, known as FARC, and met with Bout in
Thailand to buy an arsenal of military weaponry, which
prosecutors said he agreed to provide.
Two DEA informants who posed as FARC leaders testified for
the prosecution at Bout’s trial. A former Bout business
associate, Andrew Smulian, also testified for the government
after pleading guilty to participating in the FARC deal.
According to prosecutors, in a meeting at a Bangkok hotel
with the supposed FARC representatives, Bout agreed to sell the
100 advanced man-portable surface-to-air missiles or the
approximately 5,000 AK-47 assault rifles that were discussed.
Bout was charged only in connection with the suspected arms
deal, but U.S. authorities have said he has been involved in
trafficking arms since the 1990s to dictators and conflict zones
in Africa, South America and the Middle East.
Prosecutors said the informants told Bout the weapons would
be used to attack U.S. pilots assisting the Colombian
government. At the meeting in Bangkok, Bout responded, “We have
the same enemy.”
Washington classifies FARC, a Marxist-inspired guerrilla
army, as a terrorist organization and says it is deeply involved
in the cocaine trade.
(Reporting by Joseph Ax; writing by Paul Thomasch; editing by
Dan Burns and Will Waterman)
