US court hears appeals in case of RF businessman Viktor Bout

NEW YORK, May 10 (Itar-Tass) - US federal court on Monday heard
appeals in the case of Russian businessman Viktor Bout who is charged with
arms smuggling. The appeals were submitted by the defence and prosecution
sides.
In particular, Federal Judge Shira Sheindlin heard two witnesses for
the prosecution - agents of the US Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA)
Louis Milione and Robert Zachariasiewicz. The judge said that she will
notify the sides of her decision later.
Sheindlin appointed for June 16 hearing on the petition of Bout's
lawyers concerning the legality of his extradition from Thailand and on
all submitted appeals.
The last arguments of the parties before the trial starts will be
heard on July 21.
Russian businessman's lawyer Albert Dayan filed a motion asking to
drop all charges against his client because "the US government has no
extraterritorial jurisdiction" and has no competence to consider "crimes
taking place outside the United States." However, for its part, the
prosecution side insists that Bout allegedly agreed to supply weapons to
an international terrorist organisation, knowing that it aimed to kill US
citizens and officials in Colombia.
Lawyers of Viktor Bout are still hoping to challenge the legality of
the Russian businessman's extradition from Thailand to the United States.
The deadline for the submission of the related appeals, according to the
decision of Federal Judge of the Southern District of New York Shira
Sheindlin, was extended for three weeks, according to earlier reports.
The document says that the court decided to grant the defence appeal,
and all the petitions relating to the extradition of Mr. Bout from
Thailand, must be submitted no later than May 27, 2011. Next month, the
prosecutors are to submit their petitions on this issue, and hearings on
the parties' motions concerning the Russian businessman's extradition,
will be held on July 21, 2011.
According to Albert Dayan, the extension of the deadline for the
submission and consideration of appeals is necessitated by the fact that
"all matters relating to extradition are very complicated and, among other
things, relate to the laws of both the United States and Thailand." "The
defence still intends to consider the appropriateness of attempts by the
US authorities to exert political pressure on the government and the Court
of Thailand, which allowed to revise its original decision in favour of
Bout that rejected the US request for extradition." Currently, the defence
is "thoroughly investigating of all aspects of the case, including the
work in Thailand, an analysis of all the details, facts, questioning
witnesses and checking sworn witness testimony."
Viktor Bout was arrested in Bangkok in March 2008 at the request of
the United States. No evidence against Bout was presented to the Thai
court during two years. However, in August 2010 the court ruled to
extradite the Russian, on the grounds that his case "has no relation to
politics, and the evidence facts, according to the plaintiff's pledges,
are in the United States." This verdict has evoked a sharp reaction in
Moscow - Russia's Foreign Ministry called the decision of a higher court
for extradition as "politically motivated and biased."
Russia did not want Bout to face trial and called the Thai court
decision in 2010 politically motivated. RF Foreign Ministry took steps to
prevent his extradition to the US; Russia's Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov
suggested that Bout was innocent. On 18 November 2010, shortly after Bout'
s extradition to the United States, Russian President Medvedev's aide
Sergei Prikhodko claimed that Russia had "nothing to hide" in Bout's
criminal case stating, "it is in our interest that the investigation... be
brought to completion, and [Bout] should answer all the questions the
American justice system has. Bout is currently incarcerated in the
Metropolitan Correctional Centre, New York City.
Russian businessman Viktor Bout is charged with four counts:
conspiracy to kill US citizens, conspiracy to kill officers in government
service, criminal conspiracy to purchase and sale antiaircraft missiles
and criminal conspiracy to supply weapons to terrorist groups. The Russian
has pleaded not guilty on all of the charges brought against him.
If convicted, the 44-year-old businessman faces 25 years in prison to
life imprisonment. The beginning of the trial of Victor Bout is scheduled
for October 11, 2011.