US Jury Finds Russian 'Merchant Of Death' Guilty

[webfact]

US jury finds Russian 'merchant of death' guilty

By Sebastian Smith

NEW YORK (AFP) — A New York jury Wednesday found a Russian arms dealer, dubbed "the merchant of death," guilty of conspiring to sell a huge arsenal to US-designated terrorists, in a case that has angered Moscow.

Viktor Bout, 44, who was extradited from Thailand to the United States in 2010, was found guilty on all four counts including conspiring to kill US service personnel and to sell anti-aircraft weapons.

Federal Judge Shira Scheindlin set sentencing for February 8. Bout faces a minimum of 25 years and possibly up to life in prison.

"As the evidence at trial showed, Viktor Bout was ready to sell a weapons arsenal that would be the envy of some small countries," the lead federal prosecutor for Manhattan, US Attorney Preet Bharara, said afterwards.

"With today's swift verdict, justice has been done and a very dangerous man will be behind bars," Bharara said.

Bout's lawyer, Albert Dayan, immediately promised an appeal.

"It's definitely not the end of the process. We will appeal," Dayan told reporters. "We believe this is not the end. We have a chance."

Bout, dressed in a grey suit with a white shirt, looked despondent as he listened to the jury forewoman read out the verdict reached after fewer than eight hours of deliberations over two days.

He briefly hugged Dayan after the verdict and was led back to a detention center. His wife Alla and their teenaged daughter -- present through most of the trial -- were absent from the 15th-floor courtroom, which was packed with journalists and law enforcement agents.

Later, Alla Bout told AFP that her husband was the victim of political machinations.

"I don't think this was about justice. I would call this American nationalism," she said, fighting back tears.

But rights groups celebrated the downfall of a man alleged to have poured weapons into some of the world's bloodiest conflicts.

"It is a good day when the world?s most notorious arms trafficker is put out of business and off the market for good," said Oistein Thorsen, a campaigner with Oxfam International.

"However, it is tragic that because we have no global treaty regulating the activities of arms dealers, many other unscrupulous dealers and brokers will continue to operate."

The trial was the culmination of a sophisticated US sting operation to corner Bout, a veteran of a shady international air freight business that specialized in African conflict zones.

US agents posing as high-ranking members of Colombia's FARC guerrilla group, an underground leftist force that Washington considers a terrorist organization, told Bout at a 2008 meeting in Bangkok that they wanted to buy weapons.

Among the weapons requested were hundreds of Russian anti-aircraft missiles that the fake FARC representatives said would be used to shoot down US pilots aiding the Colombian military.

In the secretly taped conversations in Thailand, Bout told the fake FARC that he could supply the weapons.

His lawyer had tried to argue in court that the Russian had in reality quit the arms trade and was merely playing a charade to further his real goal, which was to sell two unwanted cargo planes.

Bout was arrested at the 2008 meeting with the US agents, then extradited from Thailand to the United States after a bitter legal battle.

The mustachioed former Soviet military officer is alleged to have been the biggest private black market arms dealer in the post-Cold War period. He always denied this, saying he worked exclusively as a private air transporter -- though sometimes carrying legal shipments of arms -- and lived openly in Moscow.

Bout's more extended resume allegedly includes pouring weapons into wars in Afghanistan, Angola, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Liberia, Rwanda, Sierra Leone and Sudan.

The violent movie "Lord of War," starring Hollywood actor Nicholas Cage, was inspired by his life, while the chief US Drug Enforcement Administration agent who organized the Thailand sting branded him "one of the most dangerous men on the face of the Earth."

Arms expert and longtime Bout critic Kathi Lynn Austin said "the verdict in the Viktor Bout trial closes the book on one of the most prolific enablers of war, mass atrocities and terrorism in the post-Cold War era."

"We should all be grateful that the world is safer now that the man who armed the hot spots of the globe is behind bars," she said in a statement.

Russians were outraged by Bout's arrest and extradition and there has been speculation he may know extensive state secrets.

Alla Bout said she thought her husband's only chance of ever leaving US prison would through intervention "at a state level -- a government level."

Alexander Otchaynov, vice consul for Russia in New York, would not comment on the verdict. "Commentaries on such things will come later," he told reporters.

-- (c) Copyright AFP 2011-11-03

[TAWP]

In a trial were even the Judge seemed to think a lot of the prosecutors case was weak and a stretch, the jury returns a swift verdict.

Jury system is broken when it becomes about emotions instead of evidence.

[Nisa]

In a trial were even the Judge seemed to think a lot of the prosecutors case was weak and a stretch, the jury returns a swift verdict.

Jury system is broken when it becomes about emotions instead of evidence.

Here is a good link to the trial that also has links within it about the trial and evidence against him .. http://globalpublicsquare.blogs.cnn.com/2011/10/31/viktor-bout-and-arms-smuggling-airplanes/?iref=allsearch

Clearly this guy was guilty as sin. I never saw anything about the judge saying the case was weak and in fact she went out of her way to not allow many things to be shown or said that might create unfair emotions against Bout with jury including not allowing the prosecutor to mention certain countries by name, use the term "Merchant of Death", say why he was sanctioned by the UN as well as not allowing his confession from Thailand to be brought into the trial.

He was guilty and everybody who doesn't allow emotions into it, knows this to be the case.

[retell]

so the u.s.a.

get rid of some competition in the game

selling weapons in large quantity should only be allowed for usa and israell government

stupid game

no doubt bout did do some damage in this world but they should not throw stones at him this way

[flying]

man alleged to have poured weapons into some of the world's bloodiest conflicts.

If the case is based on this.........

Well? T agree with Retell

Edited November 3, 2011 by flying

[fred110]

In a trial were even the Judge seemed to think a lot of the prosecutors case was weak and a stretch, the jury returns a swift verdict.

Jury system is broken when it becomes about emotions instead of evidence.

Was it Bout who landed in Bnagkok with a plane full of weapons, and the Thais took them? Maybe another thug.

[alexth]

For some reason I believe that this id not even the beginning. Wait until this guys starts showing a "client database" and "services" provided for those clients. He is really, really far from having played his last hand

Edited November 3, 2011 by alexth

[Nisa]

For some reason I believe that this id not even the beginning. Wait until this guys starts showing a "client database" and "services" provided for those clients. He is really, really far from having played his last hand

I would normally disagree with you as the time for him to play any hand would have been before his conviction. Federal sentencing guidelines are going to put him behind bars for the rest of his life despite any cooperation he gives now. The judge cannot deviate from the sentencing guidelines. However, it does seem like something still may be at hand here based on the following statement:

Alexander Otchaynov, vice consul for Russia in New York, would not comment on the verdict. "Commentaries on such things will come later," he told reporters.

They had plenty of time to prepare a statement. So, at least in their minds, the issue is not over.

[MengWan]

Russians should do the same : kidnap a US citizen, declare him guilty and then exchange him with Bout !

[chuckd]

Russians should do the same : kidnap a US citizen, declare him guilty and then exchange him with Bout !

Please explain how the US "kidnapped" Bout.

Edited November 3, 2011 by chuckd

[Langsuan Man]

Here we go, another opportunity for the TV crowd to criticize the US one more time

If he had been found not guilty you would have said he should never have been charged in the first place

Now that he has been found guilty due to his own recorded admissions and the testimony of his co conspirator , we come up with he didn't get a fair trial

MOD's the news is out, so close the thread so the American bashing brigade doesn't have the opportunity to continue to spew their venom

[manarak]

I don't think Bout ever committed a crime while being geographically in US jurisdiction as defined by international standards.

The US "arresting" him is the same as if Iran would nab a Dutch newspaper editor while on holiday in Malaysia for publishing drawings of the Prophet Mohamet.

[webfact]

Merchant of Death found guilty in US court

The Nation

A Manhattan federal jury on Wednesday convicted Russian arms trader Viktor Bout of four counts of conspiracy to sell antiaircraft weapons and other arms to purported Colombian rebels to kill Americans.

He faces a term of 25 years to life in prison, the Washington Post online reported.

The verdict closed the door on a five-year-old sting operation — led by the Drug Enforcement Administration and spanning three continents — that lured Bout out of Russia to a Bangkok hotel where Thai police arrested him in March 2008 as he tried to close a deal with federal informants.

He was sent to New York in October 2010, after a lengthy extradition battle that heightened tensions between the United States and Russia.

Bout, known as the Merchant of Death, has been convicted of trying to sell heavy weapons to a Colombian terror group.

The charges included conspiracy to kill Americans, conspiracy to kill U.S. government officers and employees, conspiracy to acquire and use antiaircraft missiles, and conspiracy to provide material support or resources to a designated foreign terrorist organization.

The District Judge scheduled a sentencing hearing for Feb. 8.

-- The Nation 2011-11-03

[Scott]

This is a technical question, but if much of the evidence against him was considered 'weak' or difficult to prove, why did he have a jury trial?

It would have seen wiser for him to have a trial before a judge, who would hold the legality of the evidence in higher regard than a jury.

[Ulysses G.]

I don't think Bout ever committed a crime while being geographically in US jurisdiction as defined by international standards.

The US "arresting" him is the same as if Iran would nab a Dutch newspaper editor while on holiday in Malaysia for publishing drawings of the Prophet Mohamet.

You are right, except for the fact that he intended to sell heavy weapons to terrorsts to kill innocent people in the US.

Edited November 3, 2011 by Ulysses G.

[manarak]

I don't think Bout ever committed a crime while being geographically in US jurisdiction as defined by international standards.

The US "arresting" him is the same as if Iran would nab a Dutch newspaper editor while on holiday in Malaysia for publishing drawings of the Prophet Mohamet.

You are right, except for the fact that he intended to sell heavy weapons to terrorsts to kill innocent people in the US.

Well, if the sale was done outside the US, then he wasn't under US jurisdiction, except that the US consider it to be their jurisdiction...

And I wasn't aware the FARCs were planning a terrorist attack within the US. I thought they wanted to shoot down US military aircraft operating outside the US, in the FARCs' own country (Colombia)?

Doesn't that look exactly like the US aid to the Taliban when the Russkis were in Afghanistan? What would you say if the USSR still existed and arrested US citizens for supplying the Talibans with stingers?

Bout will be put behind bars in the US, just because he pissed off the US and not because he did break laws.

His trial is a farce that isn't any more credible than if they had forced him to read a "declaration" in front of a camera, confessing his numerous crimes against the US of A.

Edited November 3, 2011 by manarak

[Chonburiram]

1320329468[/url]' post='4819555']

1320318533[/url]' post='4819181']

1320306345[/url]' post='4818671']

I don't think Bout ever committed a crime while being geographically in US jurisdiction as defined by international standards.

The US "arresting" him is the same as if Iran would nab a Dutch newspaper editor while on holiday in Malaysia for publishing drawings of the Prophet Mohamet.

You are right, except for the fact that he intended to sell heavy weapons to terrorsts to kill innocent people in the US.

Well, if the sale was done outside the US, then he wasn't under US jurisdiction, except that the US consider it to be their jurisdiction...

And I wasn't aware the FARCs were planning a terrorist attack within the US. I thought they wanted to shoot down US military aircraft operating outside the US, in the FARCs' own country (Colombia)?

Doesn't that look exactly like the US aid to the Taliban when the Russkis were in Afghanistan? What would you say if the USSR still existed and arrested US citizens for supplying the Talibans with stingers?

Bout will be put behind bars in the US, just because he pissed off the US and not because he did break laws.

His trial is a farce that isn't any more credible than if they had forced him to read a "declaration" in front of a camera, confessing his numerous crimes against the US of A.

Nurnberg rulez!

[Ulysses G.]

He was guilty and everybody who doesn't allow emotions into it, knows this to be the case

Of course.

[flying]

Doesn't that look exactly like the US aid to the Taliban when the Russkis were in Afghanistan? What would you say if the USSR still existed and arrested US citizens for supplying the Talibans with stingers?

Exactly

[Nisa]

I don't think Bout ever committed a crime while being geographically in US jurisdiction as defined by international standards.

The US "arresting" him is the same as if Iran would nab a Dutch newspaper editor while on holiday in Malaysia for publishing drawings of the Prophet Mohamet.

You are right, except for the fact that he intended to sell heavy weapons to terrorsts to kill innocent people in the US.

Well, if the sale was done outside the US, then he wasn't under US jurisdiction, except that the US consider it to be their jurisdiction...

And I wasn't aware the FARCs were planning a terrorist attack within the US. I thought they wanted to shoot down US military aircraft operating outside the US, in the FARCs' own country (Colombia)?

Doesn't that look exactly like the US aid to the Taliban when the Russkis were in Afghanistan? What would you say if the USSR still existed and arrested US citizens for supplying the Talibans with stingers?

Bout will be put behind bars in the US, just because he pissed off the US and not because he did break laws.

His trial is a farce that isn't any more credible than if they had forced him to read a "declaration" in front of a camera, confessing his numerous crimes against the US of A.

Are you saying this guy shouldn't be behind bars or are you simply using this as an opportunity to bash the USA for putting a criminal behind bars who has evaded being jailed in many countries for a long time?

[manarak]

I don't think Bout ever committed a crime while being geographically in US jurisdiction as defined by international standards.

The US "arresting" him is the same as if Iran would nab a Dutch newspaper editor while on holiday in Malaysia for publishing drawings of the Prophet Mohamet.

You are right, except for the fact that he intended to sell heavy weapons to terrorsts to kill innocent people in the US.

Well, if the sale was done outside the US, then he wasn't under US jurisdiction, except that the US consider it to be their jurisdiction...

And I wasn't aware the FARCs were planning a terrorist attack within the US. I thought they wanted to shoot down US military aircraft operating outside the US, in the FARCs' own country (Colombia)?

Doesn't that look exactly like the US aid to the Taliban when the Russkis were in Afghanistan? What would you say if the USSR still existed and arrested US citizens for supplying the Talibans with stingers?

Bout will be put behind bars in the US, just because he pissed off the US and not because he did break laws.

His trial is a farce that isn't any more credible than if they had forced him to read a "declaration" in front of a camera, confessing his numerous crimes against the US of A.

Are you saying this guy shouldn't be behind bars or are you simply using this as an opportunity to bash the USA for putting a criminal behind bars who has evaded being jailed in many countries for a long time?

If you check the list of arrest warrants against him, well... some were cancelled in the past, but at that time there were no warrants out against Bout until the US sting operation, so what's that bullshit about evading jail in many countries?

I'm bashing the USA for pretending to apply international LAW and duping the public into believing this is the application of international Law. This is a big lie.

Bout's incarceration is just an application of raw power, nothing else, and the public should be aware of that.

And I don't give a rat's ass about Bout (555) - if he pissed the US off so much why didn't they just kill him?

Do they want to extract information from him in exchange for a new identity and restored access to his US assets?

About his guilt... yeah, his activities were probably illegal.

But did he supply weapons only to the bad guys?

If he delivered weapons to the good guys, how many good guys did he save?

Do we have enough information?

Did the jury have enough information?

Does it matter?

Nah.

Let's bend the Law to get the bad guy and pretend all happened lawfully.

Edited November 3, 2011 by manarak

[lovetotravel]

If you check the list of arrest warrants against him, well... some were cancelled in the past, but at that time there were no warrants out against Bout until the US sting operation, so what's that bullshit about evading jail in many countries?

I'm bashing the USA for pretending to apply international LAW and duping the public into believing this is the application of international Law. This is a big lie.

Bout's incarceration is just an application of raw power, nothing else, and the public should be aware of that.

And I don't give a rat's ass about Bout (555) - if he pissed the US off so much why didn't they just kill him?

Do they want to extract information from him in exchange for a new identity and restored access to his US assets?

About his guilt... yeah, his activities were probably illegal.

But did he supply weapons only to the bad guys?

If he delivered weapons to the good guys, how many good guys did he save?

Do we have enough information?

Did the jury have enough information?

Does it matter?

Nah.

Let's bend the Law to get the bad guy and pretend all happened lawfully.

Before you spout off, do some research. This guy is responsible for lots of innocent peoples death. I'm amazed at how people hate the US more than this guy. Unreal.

If his arrest saved one innocent person's life, then it was worth it. I'm glad the US was able to pull this off. But would have been just as happy if any other country in the world had done it also.

[manarak]

If you check the list of arrest warrants against him, well... some were cancelled in the past, but at that time there were no warrants out against Bout until the US sting operation, so what's that bullshit about evading jail in many countries?

I'm bashing the USA for pretending to apply international LAW and duping the public into believing this is the application of international Law. This is a big lie.

Bout's incarceration is just an application of raw power, nothing else, and the public should be aware of that.

And I don't give a rat's ass about Bout (555) - if he pissed the US off so much why didn't they just kill him?

Do they want to extract information from him in exchange for a new identity and restored access to his US assets?

About his guilt... yeah, his activities were probably illegal.

But did he supply weapons only to the bad guys?

If he delivered weapons to the good guys, how many good guys did he save?

Do we have enough information?

Did the jury have enough information?

Does it matter?

Nah.

Let's bend the Law to get the bad guy and pretend all happened lawfully.

Before you spout off, do some research. This guy is responsible for lots of innocent peoples death. I'm amazed at how people hate the US more than this guy. Unreal.

If his arrest saved one innocent person's life, then it was worth it. I'm glad the US was able to pull this off. But would have been just as happy if any other country in the world had done it also.

I would applaud if the US just had said Bout was a wanted person for selling arms to enemies of the US and announced his capture, followed by detention.

I'm just disgusted by the hypocrisy of the methods.

Edited November 3, 2011 by manarak

[alexth]

For some reason I believe that this id not even the beginning. Wait until this guys starts showing a "client database" and "services" provided for those clients. He is really, really far from having played his last hand

I would normally disagree with you as the time for him to play any hand would have been before his conviction. Federal sentencing guidelines are going to put him behind bars for the rest of his life despite any cooperation he gives now. The judge cannot deviate from the sentencing guidelines. However, it does seem like something still may be at hand here based on the following statement:

Alexander Otchaynov, vice consul for Russia in New York, would not comment on the verdict. "Commentaries on such things will come later," he told reporters.

They had plenty of time to prepare a statement. So, at least in their minds, the issue is not over.

Considering we're talking about the US, anything is possible

[geriatrickid]

This is a technical question, but if much of the evidence against him was considered 'weak' or difficult to prove, why did he have a jury trial?

It would have seen wiser for him to have a trial before a judge, who would hold the legality of the evidence in higher regard than a jury.

Do not underestimate the intelligence or the common sense of a criminal jury in a Federal trial. Jury selection is usually tougher.

[Scott]

Thanks, GK. I think he would have fared better with a judge--but then hindsight is 20-20.

(Added: One off-topic post removed).

Edited November 4, 2011 by Scott
added

[craigt3365]

Very interesting article from the NY Times:

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/11/12/opinion/arms-and-the-corrupt-man.html?_r=1&ref=global-asia&nl=todaysheadlines&emc=globasasab1

[bigbamboo]

Of course Bout is guilty and had he been returned to Russia he would never have been seen again. Nor would all those secrets the Americans wanted to know about!

[Nisa]

Before you spout off, do some research. This guy is responsible for lots of innocent peoples death. I'm amazed at how people hate the US more than this guy. Unreal.

If his arrest saved one innocent person's life, then it was worth it. I'm glad the US was able to pull this off. But would have been just as happy if any other country in the world had done it also.

I assume you mean he is responsible for each death done by any weapons allegedly sold by him?

Can we apply this same standard to any other company and nations too? Just wanna know if you are truly a person seeking law and justice or a hypocrite.

My guess is the people he supplied "may" have been able to get weapons elsewhere. But I do believe if you knowingly provide a weapon illegally to a kid, a convicted felon, mentally ill or other persons banned from such possession or purchase then you should be culpable in the crimes this person carries out with the weapon.

[Pedzie]

I'm not a fan of the US global police attitude, in this instance though I would say they had every right to apprehend this guy, maybe it was only a matter of time before some of the missing nuclear material from the former soviet bloc fell into his hands and was sold for the purpose of attacking the west !