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New York court rules against reviewing Viktor Bout case

Russian national Viktor Bout was detained in 2008 in the capital of Thailand, Bangkok

Viktor Bout AP Photo/Apichart Weerawong

Viktor Bout

© AP Photo/Apichart Weerawong

NEW YORK, November 21. /TASS/. The Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit in New York has ruled against holding a new process to review the case of Russian national Viktor Bout serving a 25-year prison term in the United States, according to the court’s documents released on Monday.

Read also

Russia seeks to ensure return of jailed businessman Viktor Bout

The Court of Appeals board approved a ruling passed by a district court against holding a new process in the Bout case. The Court of Appeals ruled that the new materials in the Bout case provided by the counsel for the defense were not newly discovered evidence.

"We do not agree with this decision," Bout’s lawyer Alexei Tarasov told TASS.

"In the first place, I’ll be discussing this with my client," he added.

"The US Supreme Court is the sole possible further move," the lawyer said.

‘The counsel for the defense also reserves the possibility to use arguments based on UN materials," the lawyer said.

Bout was detained in 2008 in the capital of Thailand, Bangkok, on the basis of a warrant issued by a local court at the request of the US. He was charged with illegal shipment of weapons to the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), a rebel group designated as a terrorist organization in the United States. In 2010, Bout was extradited to the US. In April 2012, he was sentenced to 25 years in prison and received a $15 million fine.

The Russian national is serving his sentence in the United States Penitentiary, Marion, some 500 kilometers south of Chicago.

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