Alleged Russian arms dealer Viktor Bout, recently extradited to the United States from Thailand, said on Sunday he did not believe in an unbiased court trial in the U.S.
"I believe that the court trial will definitely be biased and nonobjective. I am saying so because the U.S. government has deliberately distorted facts about my life and my work in the text of accusations," Bout said in an interview with RIA Novosti international news agency.
Bout is being kept at a New York prison and RIA Novosti received answers for its questions through Russian Vice-Consul Alexander Otchainov who regularly visits the Russian businessman.
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 after spending more than two and half years in Thai prisons.
The charges against him include conspiring to supply arms to terrorist groups and kill U.S. nationals. Bout denies all charges.
The former Russian officer, dubbed the Merchant of Death by global media, could face from 25 years to life behind bars if convicted.
"The information about me in the text of accusations is based on unverified data, rumors, misunderstandings and blatant lies. For ten years, the Untied States has been waging a war against me and my family directly and through the mass media. In these conditions, no one here, including judges, can be unbiased," Bout said.
The Russian businessman said he had been offered to strike a plea bargain and get a shorter prison term in exchange for his testimony about his connections in Russia and other countries.
"I was offered a more lenient sentence, a shorter prison term and the possibility to move my family to the U.S., if I told them all I knew about my connections in Russia and other countries. But I said I had nothing to tell them as I did not know anything they were interested in," Bout said.
Bout's wife, Alla, has earlier said her husband is being made into a scapegoat and has been transformed into a "substitute" for Osama bin Laden.
"Viktor Bout is the victim of the unscrupulous work by some UN experts and a number of U.S. and British politicians and journalists who have blown up UN experts' suspicions into a global campaign to demonize him," she said.
NEW YORK, January 2 (RIA Novosti)
