'Merchant of Death' sentenced to 25 years in US prison
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New York - A United States court on Thursday sentenced a Russianarms trafficker to 25 years in prison for conspiring to kill USnationals and for providing weapons to a terrorist organisation inLatin America.
Judge Shira Scheindlin of the Federal District Court in New YorkCity also fined Viktor Bout 15 million dollars. A jury had found himguilty of counts of conspiring to kill US citizens who assisted thegovernment in Colombia more than a decade ago in the fight againstthe Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC.
The US hasdeclared FARC a terrorist organisation. Bout, 45, was also accused by Washington of trying to sell FARC 20million dollars' worth of anti-aircraft missiles, other weapons andammunition. He was convicted in November 2011.
The US hasdeclared FARC a terrorist organisation. Bout, 45, was also accused by Washington of trying to sell FARC 20million dollars' worth of anti-aircraft missiles, other weapons andammunition. He was convicted in November 2011.
The former Soviet Air Force officer was arrested in Thailand inMarch 2008 in a sting operation orchestrated by the US DrugEnforcement Administration and later extradited to the United Statesto stand trial for trying to kill US citizens.
Moscow protested the arrest and extradition to the US at the time,calling them politically motivated.
