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Brittany Griner is safe and on her way home after months of being unjustly detained in Russia. In the wake of this historic prisoner swap, we're revisiting a today explained episode from August on the Merchant of Death, Victor Boot. When your rights are under attack, the ACLU shows up. Become a member with a monthly donation at aclu.org slash show up by December 31st.

US officials are sending the “Merchant of Death” — a notorious arms dealer named Viktor Bout — back to Russia in exchange for the WNBA star’s release. We revisit our conversation with author Douglas Farah, author of “Merchant of Death: Money, Guns, Planes, and the Man Who Makes War Possible.”

This episode was produced by Hady Mawajdeh, edited by Matt Collette, fact-checked by Laura Bullard, engineered by Paul Mounsey, and hosted by Sean Rameswaram.

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