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Victor Bout’s attorney demands appeal hearing by court en banc

Lawyer: previous appeal was dismissed without reason

Photo EPA/ITAR-TASS

Photo EPA/ITAR-TASS

NEW-YORK, October 14. (ITAR-TASS) - Lawyer for Victor Bout, Russian citizen, serving his 25 year sentence in the United States on charges of entering conspiracy for arms trafficking, has submitted a petition to review the appeal on his defendant by court en banc.

Late September Federal court of appeals in New York upheld a sentence to the Russian businessman. The 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in New York turned down an appeal filed by Bout’s lawyer Albert Dayan, who conveyed the man’s complaint over being victimized by vindictive prosecution. Now Dayan demands that all members of the court examine the appeal, but just three judges.

Dayan claims that the arguments used by the defense explaining why the case has to be re-evaluated were dismissed by judges without providing a reason – hence the lawyer believes court en banc should examine the appeal once again.

Viktor Bout, a former officer of the Soviet Air Force, was arrested in Bangkok in March 2008 and was extradited to the U.S. in November 2010. A year later, a panel of twelve jurors passed a guilty verdict on him for what the Americans insisted had been a conspiracy to sell arms to the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia /FARC/, which is listed in the U.S. among prime terrorist groupings and which, allegedly, intended to kill U.S. soldiers.

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