"I will take part in this picket. Everyone, who is now in St. Petersburg and wants to support Viktor, please, come! I will answer all the questions. About the current developments in my husband's case, about restrictive measures taken against him, about [his] detention conditions and health," Bout's wife wrote on her page in Russian Vkontakte social network.
On July 19, Bout's attorney Alexey Tarasov told the Izvestia newspaper that Bout’s term was extended for more than 40 days over alleged production of alcohol in his prison cell. According to the attorney, the alleged production of alcohol was nothing but making kombucha mushroom tea, a drink produced from brewing black tea, which Bout used for treating his stomach.
Bout was arrested in Bangkok in 2008 in a joint operation between Thai and US authorities, who accused him of conspiring to kill US citizens by allegedly agreeing to supply Colombian rebels with weapons. Moscow said that the case was politicized, and has repeatedly urged Washington to release the Russian citizen.
In May 2016, the judge who sentenced Bout said that the verdict in the case was excessive and inappropriate, adding that she handed down the shortest sentence she could possibly give.
