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THE CASE OF VIKTOR BOUT

Illegal arms flows fuel conflicts, threaten international security, and contribute to severe human rights abuses worldwide. The complex, often transnational nature of arms trafficking allows for the proliferation of weapons in conflict zones, falling into the hands of non-state actors, militias, and even terrorist organizations.

CAP's actions to bring notorious Russian arms dealer Viktor Bout and others like him to justice highlight some of the ways we work to secure peace, accountability, and justice for victims.

THE HARM

​Gunrunning and Illicit Arms Flows Fueling Violence, Injustice, and Atrocities.

Merchants of Death and their arms trafficking networks threaten global security, spur humanitarian crises, and fuel violations of human rights and international law. Our team has conducted field investigations against traffickers in nearly 50 countries, including one of the most prolific gunrunners of our era, the notorious Russian Viktor Bout. Within six weeks after following Bout’s sentencing on terrorism charges in the U.S., CAP documented the re-establishment of his gun running network under his immediate successors exposing their plans to arm Iran, Syria, and beyond.  
 

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​THE STORY

CAP’s reporting on both Viktor Bout and his gunrunning successors led to unprecedented U.S. enforcement action to hold them accountable and lessen their threats to U.S. and other nations' national security. CAP’s numerous op-eds and blogs, appearances in documentaries and on the media, and presentations in numerous forums have guided national, regional, and multilateral approaches to preventing, disrupting, and halting illicit arms brokers and their profiteering networks. 

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THE CHANGE

  • Evidence-based dossiers compiled to hold specific arms traffickers and their co-conspirators accountable; 

  • Arms traffickers and their collaborators identified and added to national, regional, and UN sanctions regimes;

  • Call heeded to include the regulation of arms brokers and their enablers in national laws, regional prescriptions, UN initiatives, and the Arms Trade Treaty (ATT);

  • Advanced policy and regulatory mechanisms in diverse governing bodies such as the Firearms Protocol of the UN Convention on Transnational Organized Crime, the European Union, and the African Union, among others;

  • Fostered global enforcement cooperation to track, disable, and prosecute traffickers;

    Established extensive knowledge base of gunrunners’ tricks of the trade, the enablers they reply upon, and the loopholes they exploit.
     

CONTINUING THE WORK

  • Conducting Investigations: CAP is quick to detect gunrunners exploiting new conflicts, crises, terrorism, and organized crime opportunities. 

  • Disrupting Networks: Using data, forensics, and on-the-ground leverage to stop illicit activity in its track. 

  • Supporting Prosecutions: Providing evidence to dismantle networks.

  • Advocating for Reforms: Promoting stronger and sensible arms controls to close loopholes and gaps.

  • Raising Awareness: Highlighting the devastating impacts of illegal arms proliferation.

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