Defiant ‘Lord of War’ Sentenced to 25 Years
Adam Klasfeld – (Courthouse News) – MANHATTAN – April 6, 2012 – Victor Bout, depicted in nonfiction as “The Merchant of Death” and in Hollywood as the “Lord of War,” pointed an accusatory finger at federal agents at his sentencing hearing Thursday, as a federal judge gave him the minimum 25-year sentence based on qualms about the sting operation that caused his downfall.
A Russian national, Bout armed dictators, despots and warring factions in the Congo, Angola, Sierra Leone and other conflict zones around the world.
Sanctioned by the United Nations, Bout remained free for more than a decade until the U.S. government snared him in “Operation Relentless,” a sting in which undercover informants posed as guerrillas with the Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia (FARC), which the U.S. classifies as a terrorist group.
Bout was defiant at his sentencing hearing. He turned to the federal agents who snared him, seated in the front row, and pointed at them when his time to speak came.
“I am not guilty,” he began, speaking in Russian through an interpreter. “They will live with this truth. They will have to go to bed with this truth.” (Click HERE for article)
Alaa Ali case questions whether civilians should be court-martialed
Michael Doyle – McClatchy Newspapers – WASHINGTON – April 6, 2012 – Iraqi-born translator Alaa “Alex” Ali never served in the U.S. military, but the Army still tried him and put him in jail.
