VIKTOR BOUT'S RUSSIAN ATTORNEY CLAIMS HE HAS NO FUNDS TO PURSUE LEGAL CHALLENGES TO HIS EXTRADITION AND CONVICTION

In yet another media interview, convicted arms traffickers Viktor Bout's Moscow lawyer has asserted that he is without funds to obtain justice. He is again asking for sixty million rubles ($1.75m) to retain a  preselected"dream team" of America attorneys. Bout has long alleged that his extradition from Thailand was legally flawed, and that his conviction, in Federal Court in New York, which was affirmed on appeal, was purely political, and violated the law. The time has long passed for him to bring his convicted before the US Supreme Court, and any remedy that his attorneys contemplate must therefore be outside the normal appellate process.

His wife, who is presently in Thailand, seeking a new hearing in his original extradition to the United States, has reported to the press that Bout has lost all telephone privileges for a period of 21 days, allegedly for making an error on his written request for telephone time. He is serving a 25-year sentence at USP Marion, and is quartered in a special "communications" unit, designed to deny imprisoned terrorists any access to the outside world, and where all external contact is extremely limited. His former attorney, Albert Dayan, has stated that he intends to lodge a formal compliant about his mistreatment in custody.

Aerial view - USP Marion