breaking news the russian man convicted of arms trafficking and son was sentenced just moments ago in a new york courtroom a live report on the sentencing handed down to victor groove coming up. a happy homecoming first son but not all return of u.s. troops come home with tears of joy if the one from media isn't showing you the ones where flags covered flag covered coffins come quietly in the night that show the true face of war so why aren't we seeing that side of the complex for this war.

it's thursday april fifth seven pm here in washington d.c. i'm liz of all you're watching artsy. we'll begin with the breaking news the man dubbed the merchant of death sentenced to twenty five years and federal court just a short time ago russian businessman vic victor boot was found guilty back in november for selling millions of dollars worth of weapons to south american terrorists and while he's become infamous in the u.s. his supporters say he's a victim of entrapment and he never stood a chance at a fair trial or to correspond honest aasia churkin is a new york the more. i am a saucy so what is the latest. well love liz as you say victor gooch got the minimum expected sentence twenty five years behind bars his defense was trying to get the judge to drop all charges against him the prosecution was pushing on the

other hand for a life sentence behind bars considering the four charges made against him victor gooch ended up getting a quarter of a century behind bars and it's important to see that when the trial kick started today when the hearing kick started picture good seemed to be in a pretty good mood he gave a thumbs up to his wife although he was smiling and today was actually the first time here dressed the court throughout the trial he did speak in russian through an interpreter for the first time because before he said he was an innocent man he continues to see he's an innocent man and he said he did not need to prove anything to the court room but today he did speak he said the truth is known to these people as he pointed to agents of the drug enforcement administration who as we know lured him into this case where they arrested him in thailand and he said to them that he says god will forgive you you'll answer to him not me so goes was acquired quite

powerful words who did thank the people of the united states who were respectful to him and said he was overall great for while the prosecution today continued to push very hard to see this man sentence for life however this to happen we got twenty five years it didn't think interesting to hear that he was able to have some kind of a smile on his face considering he does spend twenty five years behind bars that that's what he's looking at. a significant amount of time and i sasy how would you describe the mood and the courtroom. well the mood dull is just like i said you know it's definitely a big case a lot of people have been following this case for very long time victor boot was a very upbeat emotions were sort of high people were waiting to see what would happen it's no joke when somebody who's never stepped foot on u.s. territories facing from twenty five years to life behind bars so this is a pretty high profile case with hundreds of reported one hundred million dollars

invested by the u.s. officials into hunting this man down almost a decade they were hunting him down are interested in thailand to extradite him to the united states of the mood in the courthouse was you know according to that keast people waiting to see what would happen if it did come as somewhat of a surprise because this is the minimum sentence over twenty five years is clearly still a very long time and whether or not a successful appeal could see place that remains to be a big question which seems quite unlikely. so that was going to be the next question to you any word on if the defense is going to file an appeal that's something that's definitely been mentioned they are planning to do the defense team has two weeks to file this appeal the lawyer victor grew did see he believes this could be successful however good earlier an interview said he does not believe although he does plan to fight an appeal could be really as successful

as they would hope of because it's very rare and almost never happens that a jury's decision is reversed in the united states plus any such appeal could take really years without an uncertain outcome so it doesn't sound like they have too much hope in terms of a successful appeal on a sassy i thank you very much for keeping us updated on this case. and that was the i'm about a trip into live from new york i have a four three and something with their blue belt with the voice of russia he was first asked about the time a lot out here in the u.s. and if you plan to write a memoir in the future articles. i don't have any food and secrets i don't have been part of any hidden so called secrets or you know the double speak of da who is now became well known agent for hire when you need to jeopardize somebody you just give him a call and those are perfect matches to get anybody into trouble because they so perfect and that kind of the manipulation so i don't know anything to write about

i'm not planning to write in a memoir so called i don't waste my time for one it's just sort of you know because in russian you know getting the paper turkey missed a good degree the movie lord of war story nicholas cage played a role in your trial or better yet in the entire operation to arrest you listen there is a problem with my understanding of the world belief in english and all i know believe i know it because look at the even an agent on the first arrest missed out was always told a movie about you besides i did let us take a picture with you it's like a trophy i'm for them like you know how to be a hole in the kilt and now they want to take a picture with them on some you know wild animal and now this question i'm going to put on their kitchen and show their kids and their grandkids and how we hunted that animal but tuna first place created that me for about the phantom they don't care

they don't want to know the truth they believe all they've been you know eating all what been inferred over the mass media on mainstream media in this country. they term an effect your jurisdiction likely to be they can run a factor nexuses like i'm going to fetch a lot of legal stuff but they can't manufacture truth truce is there and regardless they're kenyan the truth is very simple and square i'm innocent i didn't commit any crime there's no crime to sit and talk if you're going to apply the same in all standards to me then you're going to you know jail all those arms dealers in america who selling their arms and then the doctor killing americans they are involved even more than me i mean if you feel this is a fair and just to lock up person all that because you talk about something without doing some think it's a double standards it's

a photography. in it's you know naked stage whisper but have you learned anything about yourself while in custody for this many years i mean then you might have discovered about yourself something new well i wouldn't say that i discovered something new i may be right little bit different myself but different levels i had before i'm still the same person which i've been before us and i hope to be the same after i released and i was victor speaking for the voice of russia in that interview mr vit went on to say that american prosecutors can kill him but i cannot break his era for more on the funding thing and rather capers had investigative journalist george rapp going now he has been following this case so george just the servant of. well as far as we could do this concern i mean it was the least.

sentence you could get i mean the problem is if it was a would have been a life sentence in federal prison system in america it is no he don't like his life you can't get it reduced for good behavior so this was the twenty five years was the least amount by law the judge was able to give him and it didn't do very interesting point the judge merely explicitly clear because she explained why she sentenced for example to twenty five years of prosecutors pushed hard for life life in prison and that you know the judge said that if it wasn't for the d e d e a sting operation which was actually term da sting operation relentless if it wasn't for the sting operation she said there was no evidence in her in her courtroom during the whole trial or in a free trial that we could who would have tried to you know. do any terrorist activities towards america that's what these charges pick to boot stood up in court today for the first time when he told a judge that he's innocent he said in russian and there was a translator but the judge you know it was actually clearly judge said it you know

there was no no evidence that he would have committed any type of crimes against america any terrorist act crimes or any activities that are if it was not for a sting operation so i think it was a very important point. now george i understand that that you met him first in thailand and he said i have just last night can you tell us about your interaction with hand what were his mood was like what was going through his mind. well you know victor who is extremely intelligent he's a very realistic and he knew exactly space and you know he knew that he could possibly hit sentence a life so he you know he didn't have any you know false hopes about what would happen today he was actually a person was when sentenced the next day it was actually in conspiracy i saw him in prison with his wife and his daughter so he was happy to see them is the first time that we actually got a chance to speak since i saw in thailand in two thousand and ten because in

a courtroom you know we try to communicate but you know it's i was told that i can't speak you know during a court in a courtroom so i was good to see him and since he got moved to brooklyn it was a what but chinese car a contact visit where you can actually touch him in and see him before and before he was in a in a maximum security prison and then happen it was only behind glass and steel that you were able to talk to him or see him so now you know when i was talking to him you know he was flanked by his wife and daughter had his arm around his wife arwa so it was it was a nice visit he's much happier right now in the current facility because it's much less secure he came to us he had no shackles on you know on its feet or his arms and you know he's he has access to outside during the day has he has access to e-mails not in an effort he does have access to e-mails now the question remains what's going to happen to him after today the judge made recommendations to the bureau of prisons for it to boot to stay in the tri state area so his family can

visit him while they're here they're only here for some on time because of visa regulations and also so the tourney's visit him and also the judge recommended that he not be put into a maximum security now if you're a business has the final say what where they put him for however from what i understand they can at his place in california without explain to the judge why they are not here to her recommendations so hopefully he'll stay in the tri state area but. you know it should be expected to be moved anywhere from three to four weeks and it could be sooner it's a guessing game at this point we're told he will speak for spies for his attorneys now george i know that you have been following this case for quite some time and as you mentioned earlier you first met when you met with him back in thailand what would drew you to this case were you know it's interesting i was in thailand and. both my fiance at the time and she happens to be russian and it's just

a coincidence but you know it's for i was in thailand in bangkok actually when he got arrested and was front page of all the newspapers so you couldn't miss a case unless you weren't watching t.v. or arena newspapers at all and i was such big news in thailand and then i was i went back to india and then i came back to thailand and this is when you know over a year later and the trial is still going on and i remembered the biggest station here was coming off and i think october two thousand and ten. against you know against us for sex addition to the america and i didn't see anything in the papers and it was just struck me as odd so i started to write about the case and then i contacted by some investigative journalist and then iceland and other people and then for i knew what i found myself in thailand and through mutual friends that knew victor i was able to meet him in a courtroom the courtroom in thailand was a much less secure or had less restrictions it doesn't in the united states so i

was able actually to go out to him meet them talk to him and myself and several of the journalist as well and in the prison system it was easier to visit him basically just need to show id it wasn't for me to be filled out back on check cetera so i just kind of fell into the case you know it and and i met him and and from what i read about rick to do and after i spoke to him and her we have to say and heard from his own mouth you know it in add up and you know if you read the facts in and find out and do some digging and don't take what could media you know and base it it to the carriage of sas nation that was built up against it to boot by the media and really you know study the case you know it's very clear cut that in the us if he was out to give victor group by any means necessary you know so it was it was just by accident now many questions surrounding this case over whether or not it was possible for him to get a fair trial what do you think. no i think absolutely not.

the problem the problem is it's just you know like i would die and they mentioned you know that one of the jurors saw the movie the lord awards she claims that she didn't know that it was about to boot until after she read about him after the verdict was announced so it is this is just been a huge media campaign against him in this country has been going on for years and there's been millions of dollars spent on this case some i mean there's been estimates as as much as half a billion dollars but the operation went miss and it is this da operation stands over three continents you know that in v.a. obviously is involved with their case they use the f.b.i. came out during the trial they used some sort of n.s.a. were involved with the wiretaps and sort of cia cia was in the hospital obviously didn't come to court and say that you know we helped with the case so did deformity came out of in the court that did that to. highly paid again formants carlos and

ricardo or fault former drug dealers and whole raid already mark members were at a time but really appreciate you coming on and sharing your story with us that was investigative journalist george matt thank you when it comes to the public's understanding of war it seems ignorance of the blessed that least when you watch how the war is covered by the mass media. all right. well today marks the two year anniversary since the release of this video lead to the whistleblower web site wiki leaks the video shows u.s. troops in iraq firing down on innocent civilians on the grounds the video is shocking and reveals what really happens in war and usually. and it's video like this i would usually go under or dead. but it's rare that images and information

like this is made public because so being involved in two major wars for nearly a decade reports from the front lines almost never show what actually happens i counter severely edited images cleaned up and an accurate portrayal of the true cost of war and as r.t. correspondent christine from south shows us the misinformation can play a role and shape and policy. a happy homecoming for those who make it home. these are the images of war that often touches the most. the ones that take place off the battlefield. but the stories pictures like this tell is incomplete you have

a total great. responsibility of the press. where the people of the united states are as informed as they could be despite being technologically capable of transmitting photos and videos from the frontlines what's viewed by the american public is almost always distilled and some of the exceptions to that will have proven why during the vietnam war photos like this captured the horrors of innocent children in a pond fighting for their lives. public opinion changed when the opinion of those covering it changed as well as we are mired in stalemate seems the only realistic satisfactory conclusion antiwar sentiment at home exploded. the images of prisoner abuse at abu ghraib in iraq how the similar impact of disturbing the general public when happy american military personnel could be seen

torturing prisoners in iraq. still most images of brutality thus of reality are kept out of the public view. because of the right were record. that is the. exact opposite of. even american flag draped coffins were forbidden the ban handed down by president george h.w. bush in one nine hundred ninety one and not overturned intel two thousand and nine when nearly five thousand of these had already returned and many argue not showing it concealed the cost of war to those who are asked to support it and fund it we've had so many instances where reports were. just censored or they didn't get all the information it was omitted in those reports so they're not able to actually know what is going on in germany mandatory tours were

given to german civilians a book involved concentration camp soldiers believe the people should see the atrocities of war firsthand but that firsthand look for us led wars is extremely rare after nearly a decade in iraq and afghanistan the images we see look more like this happy soldiers having completed their mission coming home what we don't see are the results of their actions the aftermath of drone strikes or the night raids gone wrong putting that rule back in the hands of what still seems to be a very unwilling media in washington christine present r.t. . now to talk more about the reality of war versus the reality of portrayed on your television screens james lawlor do again photojournalist and freelancer joins us now welcome welcome james so why do they only see more images that show the true

cost of war. i mean i don't know that i would agree with the premise of the question. i think that we're seeing more of that stuff all the time. today's front page photo in the new york times here in new york being a prime example. it could have been a cell phone picture of someone who was right there after a bomb went off a suicide bomber attacking. afghan policemen and u.s. service members somewhere near kabul and afghanistan. it showed you know was a grammar of a rare instance of showing u.s. service members bloodied and and injured on the ground not dead seemingly but probably published before families were even notified they were identifiable you can see their faces but i mean is that a something like this is is a rare are rare occurrence. well that is that's a rare occurrence that's a there's

a nuanced editorial process that goes on. but it's rare that you see something published like that before you know with us or you know american newspapers tend to be sensitive to publishing images of u.s. service members that are injured or dead before family are notified and that's i would i would acknowledge that there's an imbalance there you know because there's plenty of images of that that depicts you know dead afghan children all the time. without those same sensitivities brought in you know to the editorial decision making process. well you what you do see more images and images that are kind of glorified an exception would be the death of moammar gadhafi or when saddam hussein was killed these are worth looking at those images right now when we saw those all over the place. and that kind of scenario we see a lot of that replayed over and over again. do you think that there's

a disconnect between what types of images are are fair game to play. you know gadhafi is an interesting example. hussein was executed in the you know it can really sort of controlled environment. but you know all of the young libyan men surrounding because often when he was found smartphones or at least cell phones with cameras on them and it's a snowball effect and you know those those images we're going to be disseminated and that makes the editorial process a lot easier those things are already in the public domain they're already being tweeted. and so the graphic imagery that was seen on also the front page of the new york times. was. you know it was. children children seeing things like that you know on the front page of the paper

that's that's a competitor that's an understandable concern but it's already in the public domain and you see violence on cable television enough anyway so it's going to be ok and i understand that you are a photojournalist and you traveled to several places to war zones. and took some of these photos yourself. how would you describe what you've seen firsthand. is it the same images that are available to the public here in the u.s. . yeah you know i better imagery that you see in the newspaper is is often pulled off of a news wire service you know not necessarily staff photographer and so the editorial process is the larger is is starts with a huge gamut of images that are that are on the wire to begin with and a lot of them are very graphic and then individual newspaper editors. have to

decide what that's already on the wire they're going to publish and so it's you know. i heard something before before coming on myself about you know the some some opinion being positive that you know that that there are such as for maybe some sort of conspiracy to to to whitewash these kinds of events and that's that's doesn't i would argue that that's not so much the case as you might think are you and me hey you would argue that there isn't there is not and it's right tell by how much that so i mean it's a right except not on the part of not on the part of the press which you know you don't think that the press plays any role or makes any editorial decision that's what is acceptable to make public and what shouldn't be shown but i know that there are those in atlanta and the newsrooms across the country there are very strict rules as to what images you can check out of course you know of course of course i

just am saying that. that you know there's those decisions are usually about. it's similar to what the editorial decision would have been today with the paper that appeared in the york times. about u.s. service members their families not having that informs beforehand and then putting putting their picture in the paper and that's a unique american concern for an american a major american newspaper but some you know the there's i guess what we're trying to get here is there's so many and there's so many images out there yeah the cost of war obviously is very vast and then. a lot of the times the flag draped coffins as. christine pointed out in her story there are not shown and some of those images if you see the mass amounts of deaths that you know are results those those images aren't necessarily always revealed to the public so in this way. what

is made public does impact the purse the option of what's going on abroad. sure i mean there's a degree to which. armed forces american or otherwise can control access that the press has to these events and. you know that is what it is. when when you know journalists who do the kind of work that i have done and consider you know when you when you have the access you just want more facts to be out there and you just you know you just want to be able to and that is not the public better informed and that is hopefully that should be the goal of the media is to keep your viewers informed as to what really is going on i appreciate you coming on the show and it was journalist. i talk to her and freelancer james lawler again. well rupert murdoch the man behind fox news here in the usa has

a growing scandal on his hands in the u.k. and i news a major satellite network admitted its reporters hacked e-mails on two separate occasions insisting that it was done in the public's interest artie's ever been it has more of the hacking investigation that's threatening the murdoch media empire. what public interest is that e-mails hacked although they belonged to members of the public they were private they were those of suspected criminals and submitted actually did this on two separate occasions both times authorizing a reporter a reporter was authorized to hack e-mails by a senior executive on the editorial boards now that the sense of public interest may be valid in some media cases for example who previously but it's not valid clear hacking private e-mails with a publisher of members of the couple is in fact a criminal offense the news would be in breach here of the computer misuse act and for that particular law the tablet interest defense is not in fact ballots will be

very interesting to see what the police do here and it's up to them to decide whether anyone actually gets charged with this sky news has tried to diffuse the situation by saying any nation it did glean from these hacked e-mails was not to publish nor is it broadcast however the information was clearly used as a basis for a number of stories published on its website at the time almost over four years ago now is obviously further invest in barack heat on the murdoch empire here which is really dragged through the mud in the u.k. last year in the wake of the phone hacking scandal that resulted in the closure of one of his biggest newspapers here the news of the world the widespread criminal activity was illegal phone hacking of course and the ramifications of that scandal is still being felt in james murdoch. down earlier this week from being chairman of news corp the. overall company the sky be the the new parent company.