Convicted Arms Dealer Bout’s Sentencing Delayed
By Ria Novosti
A court in New York postponed the sentencing of Russian national Viktor Bout, who was found guilty of arms trafficking last November, Kommersant said on Thursday.
The court was to deliver its sentence on February 8, 2012, but the session was postponed as prosecutors failed to give their response to one of the defense team’s two motions.
No details were available on Tuesday and repeated calls to the Russian consulate in New York, which was the first to report the postponement, went unanswered.
Former Russian army officer Bout was arrested in Thailand in March 2008 during a sting operation led by U.S. agents and extradited to the United States in November 2010 after spending more than two and half years in Thai prisons.
On November 2, the jury of the Federal District Court of New York unanimously found Bout guilty of conspiring to kill U.S. officials and citizens, of acquiring and intending to use anti-aircraft missiles and to providing support to terrorists.
Bout, who had denied all charges against him, faces from 25 years to life in prison.
