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BANGKOK, Thailand -- The wife of accused Russian arms dealer Viktor Bout said Tuesday that her husband was a law-abiding businessman and not the "Merchant of Death" portrayed in the media.
"My husband only ran an aviation cargo business, and what he transported was legal," Alla Bout, a 45-year-old fashion designer, said in Bangkok's Criminal Court, where her husband is facing extradition to the United States.
She was among the first defense witnesses called in the long-running case, which began in March last year when the Russian was arrested in a Thai-American sting operation in Bangkok.
Alla Bout told the hearing that her 42-year-old husband was merely a businessman who left the aviation industry in 2001 to spend more time with his family in Russia.
"The media reports that my husband went to many countries from 2001 onwards are false, because he was with us in Moscow all the time," she said.
Alla Bout said her husband had never traveled to Latin America except when the couple flew to Argentina for a three-day vacation.
The extradition hearing had been expected to finish on Wednesday. However, the judge said Tuesday that the final session would instead be on April 29, and a date for delivering the verdict could be set then.
Bout's Wife Testifies He Is Honest
18 March 2009
Reuters
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