A Russian arms dealer dubbed the ‘Merchant of Death’ who once inspired a Hollywood movie is back in the headlines with speculation surrounding a return to Moscow in a prisoner swap. If 55-year-old Victor Booth is indeed released in exchange for WBNA star Brittney Griner and former US Marine Paul Whelan, as some published reports suggest, it would add to the knowledge of a charismatic arms dealer the US has imprisoned for more than a decade. Depending on the source, Bout is a businessman wrongfully imprisoned after an overly aggressive sting operation in the US or an arms dealer whose sales have fueled some of the world’s worst conflicts. Nicolas Cage’s 2005 film “Lord of War” was loosely based on Bout, a former Soviet air force officer who gained notoriety for allegedly supplying weapons for civil wars in South America, the Middle East and Africa. His clients are said to include Charles Taylor of Liberia, longtime Libyan leader Moammar Gaddafi and both sides in the Angolan civil war. Shira A. Scheindlin, the former New York federal judge who sentenced Bout before returning to private practice, may be among those who would not be disappointed by Bout’s freedom in a prisoner swap. “He’s done enough time for what he did in this case,” Scheindlin said in an interview, noting that Bout, a vegetarian and classical music lover who is said to speak six languages, has served more than 11 years in state prisons. USA. He was convicted in 2011 of terrorism. Prosecutors said he was prepared to sell up to $20 million in weapons, including surface-to-air missiles to shoot down US helicopters. When they made the claim at his sentencing in 2012, Booth shouted: “It’s a lie!” Booth has consistently proclaimed his innocence, saying he is a legitimate businessman and did not sell weapons. He has had considerable support from high-ranking Russian officials since he was first arrested. A Russian congressman testified when Bout was fighting extradition from Thailand to the US Last year, some of his paintings were exhibited at Russia’s Municipal Chamber, the body that oversees the draft law and civil rights. Bout’s case fits well with Moscow’s narrative that Washington is waiting to trap and oppress innocent Russians on flimsy grounds. “Since the high-profile Bout case, a real “hunt” by Americans for Russian citizens around the world has unfolded,” the government newspaper Rossiiskaya Gazeta wrote last year. Increasingly, Russia is citing his case as a human rights issue. His wife and lawyer claimed his health is deteriorating in the harsh prison environment where foreigners are not always eligible for breaks that Americans can get. Last month, Russia’s human rights commissioner Tatiana Moskalkova said: “We very much hope that our compatriot Viktor Bout will return to his homeland.” Moskalkova said the State Department, the Attorney General’s Office and the Justice Department are working to see if Bout might qualify for transfer to Russia to serve the remainder of his sentence. “We are also in constant dialogue to find a compromise to resolve this issue,” he said. Now housed in a medium security facility in Marion, Illinois, Bout is scheduled for release in August 2029. “If you asked me today, ‘Do you think 10 years would be a fair sentence,’ I would say ‘yes,’” Seidlin said. “He got a hard deal,” the retired judge said, noting that U.S. agents “put words in his mouth” so he would say he knew Americans could die from weapons he sold in order to demand enhanced terrorism that would force long-term imprisonment, if not life. “The idea of trading him should not be unacceptable to our government. It wouldn’t be a mistake to release him,” Seidlin said. However, he said even a trade of Griner for Bout would be “worrisome.” The WNBA star and two-time Olympic gold medalist was arrested in February at a Moscow airport, where police said they found cannabis oil in a vapor container in her luggage. While the US government has labeled her “unreasonably detained,” Griner pleaded guilty to drug possession charges on July 7 at her trial in a Russian court. Her trial is scheduled to continue Thursday. Scheindlin said Griner was arrested for something that “wouldn’t have been five minutes in jail.” This sentiment is shared by others. The St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported in a July 9 article that Bout was illegally trafficking billions of dollars in weapons “to fuel wars around the world” and has “the blood of thousands on his hands,” while Griner “made a stupid mistake with a small amount of cannabis. He didn’t hurt anyone.” Griner could face up to 10 years in prison. Her guilty plea was not unexpected by those who understand that such moves usually precede prisoner exchanges. Whelan was arrested three years ago on espionage charges that the US said were bogus and false In April 2012, Scheindlin imposed the mandatory minimum sentence of 25 years that Bout is now serving, but said she only did so because it was mandatory. At the time, his defense lawyer claimed the US had targeted Bout in retaliation because it was embarrassed that his companies had helped deliver goods to US military contractors involved in the Iraq war. The deliveries came despite United Nations sanctions imposed on Bout since 2001 because of his reputation as a notorious illegal arms dealer. Prosecutors had urged Scheindlin to impose a life sentence, saying that if Bout was right to call himself nothing more than a businessman, “he was a businessman of the most dangerous order.” Bout was estimated to be worth about $6 billion in March 2008 when he was arrested in Bangkok, Thailand. US authorities tricked him into leaving Russia for a meeting on a business deal to ship what prosecutors described as “an impressive arsenal of weapons – including hundreds of surface-to-air missiles, machine guns and sniper rifles – 10 million rounds of ammunition and five tons of plastic explosives.” He was arrested at a luxury Bangkok hotel after talks with drug enforcement operatives posing as officials of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, also known as FARC. The group had been classified by Washington as a narco-terrorist group. Moved to the US in November 2010. The nickname “Merchant of Death” was attached to Bout by a senior British Foreign Office minister. The nickname was included in the US government’s indictment against Bout.
Neumeister reported from New York.
