Bout avoids extradition to US, to be freed soon
Published: 11 August, 2009, 12:22
A Thai court has ruled in favor of Russian citizen Viktor Bout. He will not be extradited to the US, and will walk free in one or two days. The United States believe Bout is the biggest gun runner in modern history.
He is accused of supplying weapons to just about every military conflict in the world since the 1980s, from Columbia to Iraq.
With accusations of this scale, Bout would have faced a life in prison, had he been tried in the US.
However, a Thai court cited “insufficient proof” and “lack of basis” for the extradition. It also ruled that Colombian FARC, whom Bout allegedly supplied with weapons, is a political rather than a terrorist organization.
According to an Interfax report quoting the Russian embassy in Thailand, Bout will be set free in a day or two. Since the prosecution representative wasn’t present in court, it still has three days to submit an appeal, which will be heard in 35 working days.
Viktor’s wife, Alla Bout, said that with FARC pronounced a political organization the appeal “would be strange.”
“The stress has been exceptional during the last year and a half, and today the Thai court has proved itself to be competent and fair, despite the obvious high pressure from the American side,” Alla Bout told Itar-Tass following the decision.
Viktor Bout is now expected to travel back to Russia where he has no outstanding warrants.American investigative journalist Wayne Madsen believes the U.S. has been so keen on the extradition of Viktor Bout because he knows a lot about U.S secret activities in Africa, the Middle East and Afghanistan.
“We know that his planes were on the airfields in Afghanistan in 2006 helping U.S. forces there. But even before that, before 9/11 he was flying for the Northern Alliance, which was backed by some companies linked to U.S. intelligence,” Wayne told RT.
Watch the full interview with Wayne Madsen.
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12 comments
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Steve Larson, But what evidence do we have against Bout? Honestly, if there is any evidence of him physically exchanging weapons to terrorists, then sure, put him in jail. The fact is, there is no evidence at all of anything people are accusing him of. He had proper end-user certificates. It's not his fault the governments he sold to have lax security on their weaponry. If we want to point fingers, let's point fingers at the US government too. The US government was a client of Bout at one point for the Afghanistan and Iraq wars. I'm not saying there are no gun-runners in the world. There are many, but before we throw that term around, at least let us see the evidence of it first. If Viktor Bout is a gun-runner, let's the see the evidence. Please show any photos or videos of him personally selling weapons to UN-restricted areas. Or even present official documents showing him doing so. Unless we see evidence, we can't accuse him of anything really. I'm of the type that believes in "innocent, until proven guilty". Bout should be a free man. Let him run his transport businesses.
USA also call him a"merchant of death"! Can you imagine USA call him... A country which lives on stolen land after genocide on Indians, and drop nuclear bombs for experiment on Japan as first and only terrorist state, and also kill 25 millions people from 1945 around the globe call a single person which did not kill anyone directly and got no proof in court to support his guilt - a "merchant of death".They also make a movie about this case! USA is no.1 seller of weapons in the world - their economy lives on making wars and killing.












I want to read his memoirs when he gets around to writing them. Hey, Mr. Bout, be sure to get your book translated into English? Thanks!