The human rights activist announced the pardon of Bout and Greiner before the exchange
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Before the exchange procedure in Abu Dhabi, Russian Viktor Bout and American Brittney Griner were pardoned. About it informed TASS vice-president of the Russian division of the International Committee for the Protection of Human Rights Ivan Melnikov.
“According to my information, Bout and Greiner were pardoned before the exchange procedure, and therefore there is no need for them to serve their sentences in their countries,” the human rights activist explained.
Melnikov specified that Bout is currently flying to Russia and will arrive in the country soon.
Earlier today, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation confirmed the exchange of American basketball player Brittney Griner for Russian Viktor Bout at Abu Dhabi airport, the procedure took place on December 8. The Russian department noted that the American side for a long time refused to include Bout in the exchange scheme, but Moscow “continued active work to rescue” the Russian.
In August, it became known that Washington sent Moscow an offer to exchange the Russian Viktor Bout for the Americans Brittney Griner and Paul Whelan. Later, the CNN channel reported that the Russian side demanded to exchange not only Bout, but also the former Russian intelligence officer Vadim Krasikov, who was convicted in Germany last year.
On August 4, the Khimki court sentenced basketball player Greiner to 9 years in prison for drug smuggling. Also, the basketball player must pay a fine of 1 million rubles. Whelan was arrested in Moscow at the end of 2018 on suspicion of espionage. He is currently serving a 16-year sentence. Bout was sentenced by a US court to 25 years in prison in 2012. He was found guilty on several counts, including being convicted of conspiracy to sell weapons.
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