MOSCOW, November 12 (RIA Novosti) — Moscow can plead again for the extradition of the Russian citizen Viktor Bout, convicted in the United States for selling weapons to US agents posing as members of Colombia’s FARC rebel group, however there was no such inquiry from Bout to the Russian Justice Ministry.
"V.A. Bout has not addressed the Russian Ministry of Justice with the repeated application for extradition to Russia to serve his sentence, that's why a new request for this person was not directed to the competent authorities of the United States," a source in the Justice Ministry told RIA Novosti.
In November 2012, US authorities refused to transfer Bout to Russia, explaining that next time he could apply for extradition would be in two years or when the circumstances of the case would change significantly.
Bout's wife, Alla Bout, told RIA Novosti on November 4 that fresh evidence was found in his case that could help the convicted Russian citizen obtain a new trial.
Bout was convicted in 2011 and is currently held at a medium-security prison in Marion, Illinois. He was arrested in Bangkok in 2008 in a joint operation between Thailand and the United States, which accused him of conspiring to kill US soldiers by allegedly agreeing to supply Colombian militants with weapons. He was extradited to the United States in November 2010 after a protracted legal battle.
