Thailand to rule on Viktor Bout in August
Viktor Bout has been fighting extradition since his 2008 arrest in Bangkok on charges that he peddled weapons that were used in some of the world's most violent conflicts.
"Both sides can issue their closing statement to the court before 30 June," said judge Jitakorn Patanasiri, telling the hearing that the ruling would be handed down on August 11. Bout would be able to appeal after that.
The 42-year-old former Soviet air force officer watched the proceedings from the dock, wearing leg shackles and a prison-issue outfit of orange top and shorts.
Bout faces life in prison if sent to the United States and convicted there on terrorism charges. He has been held at a maximum-security prison outside the Thai capital since his arrest.
Terrorism
US federal authorities charge Bout with four terrorism offences: conspiracy to kill US nationals, conspiracy to kill US officers or employees, conspiracy to acquire and use an anti-aircraft missile, and conspiracy to provide material support or resources to a designated foreign terrorist organisation.
US Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) agents arrested bout in Bangkok in March 2008. Federal prosecutors said Bout agreed to sell weapons "to two confidential sources" working with the DEA. They had represented that they were acquiring these weapons for the FARC, with the understanding that the weapons were to be used to attack US helicopters in Columbia.
Bout denies all the charges, and in March his wife testified that her husband was innocent and ran a legitimate air cargo business.
'Merchant of Death'
Viktor Bout has long been considered by the international community as one of the world's most prolific arms traffickers. He is believed to have made millions of dollars selling illegal arms to countries that the UN has placed arms embargoes on and has been labelled the 'Embargo Buster'. His assets in the United States were frozen in 2004 after he allegedly shipped weapons to Liberia in violation of US government restrictions.
He started his career as an arms dealer after the fall of the Soviet Union. Since then he sold weapons to every buyer he could find, irrespective of ideology, including the UN and the US. He started his business, however, in the Middle East, selling arms to the Northern Alliance in Afghanistan. His markets included war-torn African countries like Liberia, Sierra Leone, Angola and the Democratic Republic of Congo. He allegedly also sold arms to Al Qaeda and the Taliban.
Bout was the inspiration for a book as well as a film. In 2005 the movie Lord of War, starring Nicolas Cage as the character Yuri Orlov, was partially based on Bout. In 2007 Stephen Braun and Douglas Farah published a book about Bout entitled Merchant of Death: Money, Guns, Planes, and the Man Who Makes War Possible.