Contact With Russian National Viktor Bout In US Prison Lost Over Strict Quarantine - Wife

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Contact With Russian National Viktor Bout in US Prison Lost Over Strict Quarantine - Wife

MOSCOW (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 06th August, 2020) Russian citizen Viktor Bout, who is serving a 25-year sentence in the Marion prison in the US state of Illinois, had not been able to contact his family due to an outbreak of the coronavirus infection in the facility, Bout's wife Alla told Sputnik on Thursday.

Earlier in August, Bout's wife Alla told Sputnik that neither she nor the Russian Embassy in Washington had been able to reach Viktor since July 22.

"It turned out that Victor did not get in touch due to the strict quarantine that was introduced in the prison in connection with the outbreak of the coronavirus infection among inmates and staff. Prisoners are not currently allowed to get out of their cells at all, and they have no access to fresh air, telephone or e-mail," Alla said, after she was contacted by Russian diplomats who managed to finally get hold of Viktor.

Russian diplomats in Washington said that Viktor was released from his cell for a few minutes to talk to the embassy's representatives. Viktor told diplomats that the COVID-19 restrictions could last for another two weeks, Alla said.

"At the same time, it is very hot in his cell. It is 37-38 degrees Celsius [98.6-100.4 degrees Fahrenheit] during the day and there is no air conditioning equipment," Alla added.

The outbreak began in the prison in mid-July after the transfer of inmates from other US federal prisons, where there were already many COVID-19 patients. Before that, there was not a single case of the infection in the Marion prison. Bout wrote in a letter on July 23, that 36 COVID-19 cases have been registered in the prison. According to the US Federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP), there are now 84 confirmed cases of COVID-19 among the prison's inmates and four among the staff. One prisoner has died from the disease.

Bout was detained in Thailand in 2008 at the request of the US government as a result of a sting operation by the US special services. Bout was then transferred to the United States where a court found him guilty of conspiring to kill US citizens and of supporting terrorism.