Thai court rules to extradite alleged Russian arms dealer to stand trial in U.S.

by Nutthathirataa Withitwinyuchon

BANGKOK, Aug. 22 (Xinhua) -- Thailand's Appeals Court on Friday decided to extradite Victor Bout, a Russian national and alleged world's premier weapons dealer, to stand trial in the United States on charge of terrorism and selling weapons to Colombian guerrillas within three months.

Thai Criminal Court in August last year rejected the extradition bid by the U.S. saying that it considered the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Columbia (FARC), to whom Bout allegedly supplied weapons, was a political movement, not a terrorist group as classified by the U.S. government. One year later, however, the Appeals Court turned down the criminal court's ruling.

Under Thai-U.S. treaty, an extradition could not be granted for a political offense.

According to a report from the website of MCOT (the Mass Communication Organization of Thailand ), Philip Crowley, spokesman of U.S. State Department said they had called in Thai Ambassador Don Pramudwinai earlier this week "to emphasize that this is of the highest priority to the United States."

"We believe that we've presented significant evidence to justify his extradition to the United States," Crowley told reporters on Thursday.

Moreover, a group of U.S. lawmakers had urged the ambassador to make authorities in Bangkok know that rejecting the request would harm ties with Washington and said the kingdom's judicial handling of the case had not been "fair and transparent", Bangkok Post reported.

However, when asked whether the U.S. pressure had influenced the Appeals Court's decision to extradite the suspect, Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva said on Saturday that there was no impact and there was nothing better than dealing with the matter straightforwardly.

On the other hand, soon after the Appeals Court's ruling, there were fierce responses from Russian government.

The Russian Foreign Ministry summoned Thailand's ambassador to Russia, Chalermpol Thanchitt, to protest against the ruling.

Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Friday that the decision is politically motivated. Lavrov said the ruling was influenced by "very strong outside pressure'' but stopped short of mentioning the U.S.

"We regret the, in my opinion, illegal and politically motivated decision, made today by the Thai appeals court," he was quoted by the RIA Novosti news agency as saying.

Moreover, Russian foreign minister also vowed that Russian government will continue to do anything they can to repatriate Bout.

Bout, a 43-year-old Russian ex-air force pilot, was said to have inspired the Hollywood film "Lord of War" starring Nicolas Cage. He was arrested at a Bangkok luxury hotel in March 2008 in a sting operation orchestrated by the U.S. agents posing as arms buyers of Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC).

Bout, dubbed the Merchant of Death, allegedly supplied weapons to some of the world's worst conflicts including Afghanistan, Angola, Congo, Liberia, Rwanda, Sierra Leone and Sudan, according to the United Nations.

Bout was subsequently indicted in the U.S. for conspiring to sell millions of dollars worth of weapons to FARC, conspiring to kill Americans, conspiring to kill U.S. officers or employees as well as conspiring to provide material support to terrorists. The Russian could face maximum penalty of life in prison if convicted.

His wife, Alla Bout, said on Friday after Thai Appeals Court's sentence that the decision is unjust and obviously political case and that the American government put a lot of pressure on the Thai court, Voice of America reported.

Knowing well that the matter draws high interest from both U.S. and Russian sides, Prime Minister Abhisit is trying to convince both countries that Thailand will handle it in a straightforward manner. He also admitted that Thai government felt the heat.

"We must admit that Thailand is in the middle. With this kind of situation, pressure naturally occurs all the time and what we have to do is to handle it in a transparent way," he was quoted by MCOT as saying on Saturday.

๑۩۞۩๑๑۩۞۩๑๑۩۞۩๑๑۩۞۩๑๑۩۞۩๑

blog b. on Dipity.

Sphere: Related Content