Russian arms trafficker Bout loses bid for new U.S. trial

A U.S. appeals court on Monday denied a new trial for Viktor Bout, a Russian arms trafficker serving a 25-year prison sentence for plotting to sell missiles to people he thought were Colombian rebels. The 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Manhattan said a trial judge did not abuse her discretion by refusing to dismiss Bout's indictment and rejecting his claim that new evidence justified overturning his November 2011 conviction. Bout, 49, was convicted of conspiring to kill U.S. soldiers by agreeing to sell arms to U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration informants posing as members of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC.

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