MOSCOW, April 7 (RIA Novosti) – Russian businessman Viktor Bout, convicted for arms trafficking in the United States, will get a new team of lawyers, his wife Alla said Sunday.
Russian lawyer Alexei Binetsky is already building a new team of lawyers, who will work “in close contact” with Bout’s US lawyer on the case, Albert Dayan, she told RIA Novosti.
“I expect that my husband’s defense will be more efficient, and the case will be revised in view of newly discovered circumstances, and Viktor will be freed,” Alla said.
Bout, detained in a joint operation by US and Thai authorities in Bangkok in 2008, was sentenced to 25 years in prison last April for conspiring to kill US citizens and sell arms to Colombian militants.
He has denied wrongdoing and called the trial politically motivated, a claim echoed by Russian officials.
The defense team of the Russian businessman filed an appeal against the guilty verdict in late January. Lawyer Dayan said that in his appeal he proves that Bout was innocent and that his case was politically motivated.
The US Department of Justice rejected Russia’s extradition request for Bout last November.
