Russian human rights commissioner Tatiana Moskalkova said on Wednesday that she would address the US Department of Justice with a request to allow Russian national Viktor Bout, who is jailed in a US prison, to serve his sentence in Russia.
MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 27th September, 2018) Russian human rights commissioner Tatiana Moskalkova said on Wednesday that she would address the US Department of Justice with a request to allow Russian national Viktor Bout, who is jailed in a US prison, to serve his sentence in Russia.
"For my part I will address the Department of Justice, requesting the US side to consider [Bout's] transfer [to Russia] within the framework of the convention on the transfer of sentenced persons to the country of citizenship for further serving," Moskalkova said during her meeting with Alla Bout, the wife of the prisoner.
Moskalkova added that she would also ask the US Attorney General to allow Bout's mother to visit her son in jail.
The Convention on the Transfer of Sentenced Persons is an international treaty, which entered into force in 1985. The convention stipulates that both the state where the sentence was imposed and the convicted person's state of citizenship can request extradition, thus enabling people detained abroad to serve their sentence in their home countries.
Russian businessman Bout was arrested in Bangkok in 2008 in a joint operation of Thai and US authorities. He was charged with conspiring to kill US nationals by allegedly agreeing to supply Colombian rebels with weapons. In 2010, Bout was extradited to the United States where he was sentenced to 25 years in prison. Bout denied all allegations. Moscow has repeatedly called on Washington to release Bout, qualifying the case as politicized.
