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Viktor Bout, a Russian arms dealer known as the Merchant of Death, was sentenced to 25 years in prison after being caught in a United States sting operation. While 25 years wasn’t quite the life term that the prosecution had sought for terrorism charges, it was still a notable blow to one of the world’s most notorious arms traffickers, the real Lord of War.
Without the elaborate DEA sting operation designed to catch the notorious arms dealer, U.S. District Judge Shira Scheindlin believes that the evidence provided by the prosecution did not indicate that Viktor was ever intent on harming Americans or so much as committing a crime found punishable in the United States. Judge Scheindlin was quoted having said:
“But for the approach made through this determined sting operation, there is no reason to believe Bout would ever have committed the charged crimes.”
While the Merchant of Death was sentenced to 25 years in prison and a $15 million forfeiture, he seemed content upon receiving his sentence as he not only waved to his wife, but hugged his attorney. Not exactly the reversal and dismissal that his defense lawyer had requested, but then again, it’s significantly better than the life imprisonment government prosecutors demanded.
Bout put in a plea of “not guilty” and told the presiding judge that all of the allegations against him were false.
The real Lord of War, Viktor Bout, was accused by prosecutors of dealing weapons to hotbeds of violence such as Congo, Rwanda, and Angola; ultimately fueling the seemingly perpetual conflicts and bloodshed of these war ravaged countries. Additionally, federal prosecutors claimed he was searching for new hot spots of conflict, such as Libya, before his arrest.
Nicolas Cage played an illegal arms trafficker in the popular film Lord of War back which was released back in 2005. His character was inspired by Bout, the real Lord of War.
Viktor’s defense lawyer, Albert Dayan, wrote a letter to Judge Scheindlin in which he conveyed that the prosecution had been motivation to prosecute his client after the United States was embarrassed by the fact that Bout’s companies had helped deliver supplies to American military contractors who were assisting the U.S. in the Iraq War. Despite United Nations sanctions which were imposed against Bout in 2001 based on his reputation as an illegal arms trafficker, deliveries to American contractors succeeded.
A high ranking minister of Britain’s Foreign Office coined the Merchant of Death nickname after Bout had received attention in the 1990s for having run a fleet of old Soviet-era cargo airplanes into focal points of violence in Africa. The moniker has apparently stuck with Bout as it was included in the United States federal government’s official indictment of Viktor Bout.
据新华社电美国法官5日宣判，监禁俄罗斯籍军火商维克托·布特25年。这一刑期低于检方终身监禁的要求。
布特现年45岁，先前是苏联空军军官，能说六国语言，涉嫌在非洲、南美、中东等地大量贩卖军火，绰号“死亡贩子”，据信是美国影星尼古拉斯·凯奇主演影片《战争之王》中主角尤里·奥尔洛夫的原型。
布特5日身穿浅绿色囚服，出现在美国曼哈顿联邦地区法院，他的妻子和女儿坐在法庭第二排。布特站在法官前，再次辩称无罪。
美国法院先前裁定，布特图谋杀害美国人、贩卖防空导弹和向美方认定的恐怖分子提供物资支持等罪名成立。检方要求判处他终身监禁。
法官希拉·沙因德林5日宣判，就其中一项罪名处以25年监禁的最低强制量刑，其他三项各15年，同期执行，即总刑期25年。
沙因德林说，美方对布特的逮捕和定罪基于“警察圈套”。在美国特工介入之前，没有证据显示他计划伤害美国人，或者会犯下能在美国定罪的罪名，25年的最低量刑足够且适当。另外，没收布特1500万美元。
美国特工2007年伪装成“哥伦比亚革命武装力量”成员，首次接近布特和他的同伙安德鲁·苏马林。苏马林在与特工的碰头中提及，布特有100枚地对空导弹、直升机和反装甲火箭发射器等武器，可以按500万美元的价格运送到哥伦比亚。美国毒品管制局2008年在泰国曼谷设计逮捕布特，2010年11月把他从泰国引渡至纽约。 | 
发表于 2016-8-6 08:34:10