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| Southeast Asia |
| Thai court grants extradition of 'Merchant of Death' |
| 2010-08-21 |
| A Thai court Friday ordered the extradition of alleged Russian arms dealer Viktor Bout, dubbed the "Merchant of Death", to the United States on terrorism charges, prompting an angry response from Moscow. Bout, said to have inspired the Hollywood film "Lord of War" starring Nicolas Cage, has been fighting extradition since his March 2008 arrest in Bangkok in a sting operation involving US agents posing as Colombian rebels. He faces a maximum sentence of life in prison if convicted in the United States on charges including conspiracy to kill US nationals and to provide material support or resources to a foreign terrorist organisation. His young daughter broke down in tears after a Bangkok appeals court delivered its ruling, which his wife Alla later said was "unfair" and made under political pressure from the United States. "The court has decided to detain him for extradition to the US," judge Jitakorn Patanasiri said, overturning an earlier decision by a lower court. "This case is not political, it is a criminal matter," the judge said. Moscow strongly criticised the ruling. "We regret what is in my opinion an unjust decision, a political decision that the appeals court in Thailand has taken," Russian news agencies quoted Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov as saying on a visit to Armenia. Bout, a 43-year-old former Soviet air force pilot who is said to speak six languages and go by at least seven different aliases, refused to talk to journalists as he was led out of court in shackles. The United States, which has described Bout as "one of the world's most prolific arms traffickers," had lobbied hard to have him handed over. The US State Department summoned the Thai ambassador this week "to emphasise that this is of the highest priority of the United States," spokesman Philip Crowley told reporters on Thursday. "We believe that we've presented significant evidence to justify his extradition to the United States," he said. US lawmakers had urged the ambassador to let authorities in Bangkok know that rejecting the request would harm ties with Washington and said the kingdom's judiciary handling of the case had not been "fair and transparent." |
| Posted by:Fred |
| #1 Notice that the extradition is possible under current U.S. law. Meanwhile, Carl Levin has been pushing a bill in the Senate, the Incorporation Transparency Act, that Levin claims would help stop people like Viktor Bout. Time Magazine has also used the Bout example for why S. 569 should be passed. It's all a farce--we don't need new laws to prosecute terrorists--these laws are already on the books. |
| Posted by: American Delight 2010-08-21 08:41 |