17-11-2010, 02:53 AM
Thailand Buckles Under Intense US Pressure–Viktor Bout Flown to US
16 11 2010 Extradition of ‘arms dealer’ Viktor Bout goes ahead
![[Image: _49996039_010657095-1.jpg]](http://news.bbcimg.co.uk/media/images/49996000/jpg/_49996039_010657095-1.jpg)
Heavy security surrounded Mr Bout as he was transferred from prison to the airport
Alleged arms dealer Viktor Bout is on his way to the United States from Thailand after being extradited.
He was flown out of Bangkok shortly after the Thai cabinet backed the extradition request after months of legal wrangling.
Mr Bout was arrested by US agents posing as Colombian Farc rebels after he allegedly tried to sell them weapons in a Bangkok hotel in 2008.
The Russian national now faces trial for conspiring to sell weapons.
If convicted, he faces a maximum penalty of life in prison.
Mr Bout, who is 43, spent more than 15 years allegedly running guns to African warlords and Islamic militants.
He was dubbed the Merchant of Death by a British politician.
But he denies being, or ever having been, an arms dealer – and Moscow also insists he is innocent.
Thai dilemma
![[Image: _49996041_010657177-1.jpg]](http://news.bbcimg.co.uk/media/images/49996000/jpg/_49996041_010657177-1.jpg)
Mr Bout’s wife Alla rushed to the prison in a bid to see him – but found she was too late
Mr Bout was flown out of Bangkok on a charter flight hours after Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva said the Thai cabinet had backed an appeal court ruling which cleared the way for his extradition.
Dozens of police officers watched over the operation as Mr Bout was transferred from a maximum-security prison to the airport.
His wife, Alla Bout, who has been a frequently tearful figure at Mr Bout’s court hearings over more than two years of detention since he was arrested, appeared outside the prison in an apparent attempt to see her husband before he left – but she was too late.
Mr Abhisit has faced a difficult dilemma over Mr Bout’s case, says the BBC’s Vaudine England in Bangkok: Whether to co-operate with long-standing ally the United States or to appease Russia which has a growing tourist and business presence in Thailand.
The courts went back and forth, promising and then delaying the extradition.
A Thai court ruled in August that the extradition should go ahead within three months.
The US even sent a plane to pick him up – but that move proved to be over-confident, our correspondent says.
The courts delayed the extradition again, saying that other charges of money laundering and fraud, earlier laid by US prosecutors, had to be examined.
In October, the court decided to drop those charges, clearing the way for extradition.
But Moscow has been demanding his release, saying that Mr Bout is an innocent businessman and criticising the extradition moves as politically motivated.
‘Illegal’
Both Mr Bout’s wife and the Russian embassy have expressed surprise at the sudden nature of Mr Bout’s removal.
“Nobody knew about this [the extradition], neither I nor the lawyer,” she told Russia’s Rossiya Television.
“I came to the prison but Viktor was no longer there. This is clearly a decision that has been lobbied for by the US and taken under US pressure because only several days remained till Viktor’s term was up and, under the law, he was supposed to be freed because from the legal point of view, from the point of view of legality, we had every ground to win this case.”
![[Image: _49353337_010334812-1.jpg]](http://news.bbcimg.co.uk/media/images/49353000/jpg/_49353337_010334812-1.jpg)
Moscow says Mr Bout is the victim of a politically motivated campaign
In remarks quoted by Russian news agency Interfax, Mr Bout’s attorney Viktor Burobin alleged the extradition was illegal “because the Thai court never reviewed the second US extradition request”.
A Russian embassy official told the BBC that the Russian consul had also been unable to see Mr Bout.
Mr Bout, a former Russian air force officer, is thought to have knowledge of Russia’s military and intelligence operations.
Diplomats fear the revelations Mr Bout might make in open court, our correspondent says.
Comments : Leave a Comment »
Categories : The Most Moral Army In the World?, image of the beast
####
Lavrov: extradition of Bout – the result of US pressure
16 11 2010 Lavrov: extradition of Bout – the result of US pressure
![[Image: 101116103742_bout_226x170_ap.jpg]](http://wscdn.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/assets/images/2010/11/16/101116103742_bout_226x170_ap.jpg)
Bout has denied Washington
The Russian Foreign Ministry called the extradition of Viktor Bout to the US illegal and vowed to take measures to protect a Russian businessman, accused by US authorities for smuggling arms to terrorist group.
On Smolenskaya Square said that the extradition of Russian businessman Washington contradicts “the two decisions of the Criminal Court of Thailand, to confess Bout unproven.”
Directly to Foreign Minister Hon Sergei Lavrov Said the issue Bout, Being a working Visit to Kenya. At a Press Conference in Nairobi, He Said That the actions of the Thai Authorities Are the result of Political pressure, US and “Model of a blatant injustice. “
Booth Tuesday exported from Thailand, the United States to be accused of arms trafficking.
“Contrary to the two solutions Criminal Court of Thailand, to confess Bout unproven, that a Russian citizen after more than two years of detention in a Thai prison, gave US law enforcement agencies. These actions, according to Thai media, made with the approval of the Government of Thailand – says the Russian Foreign Ministry statement. – In terms of law has occurred may not have a rational explanation and justification. “
On Tuesday, Prime Minister Hon of Thailand Abhisit Vejjajiva Announced Plans for the immediate extradition of Russian Businessman. According to HIM, the Cabinet Approved the request to the Appropriate US Authorities. Thus, the last Obstacle to the extradition of Bout’s US, HAD Been withdrawn.
As stated earlier the Russian service Bi-BBC head of the consular department of the Russian embassy in Thailand Andrew Dvornikov or wife of Victor Bout, nor consul meet today with no avail.
Bout has denied Washington’s main of which – the supply of arms to Colombian guerrillas from the group FARC, which the US declared a terrorist organization.
In Russia, the 43-Year-Old Businessman, Nothing is Charged, and the Russian Foreign Ministry Has repeatedly protested Against thePressAttempts to reach HIS deportation to the US.
Hard decision
August 20 the Highest Court in Thailand Clickauthorized the Issuance of Victor Bout , Who WAS the supposed to Happen Within three months.
Later, the court again postponed the extradition of Thai, citing the need to consider the second charge against him of the American prosecutors.
However, in October a court in Bangkok allowed to withdraw a second request for the grant of U.S. Buta, check the extradition on the first request.
If a Russian citizen is found guilty, under U.S. law he could face life in prison.
As the correspondent of BBC in Bangkok Vodin England, the decision to extradite Mr. Bout was not easy for the government of Thailand.
Viktor Bout, a former served in the Soviet military transport aircraft, may have information about the Russian military and intelligence activities.
Analysts believe that Moscow might have feared that he would testify at the trial in the U.S. and tell us more than we would like the Russian leadership.
Lord of War?
Bout was arrested in March 2008 in Bangkok, where he was lured out of U.S. intelligence agents posing as FARC rebels.
In the U.S., Belgium and some other Western countries Bout was suspected of fueling bloody conflicts in countries such as Sierra Leone, Angola, Rwanda and Sudan.
He is considered the prototype of the hero of Hollywood movie “Lord of War”, played by Nicolas Cage.
This film and press coverage “demonized” Mr. Bout in the eyes of American public opinion, which excludes the possibility of a fair trial in the U.S., said in a recent interview with the BBC’s wife Russians Alla Bout.
Victor Bout himself says that his business was limited to the transport carriage.
Comments : Leave a Comment »
Categories : image of the beast
####
Lavrov: extradition of Bout – the result of US pressure
16 11 2010 Lavrov: extradition of Bout – the result of US pressure
Bout has denied Washington
The Russian Foreign Ministry called the extradition of Viktor Bout to the US illegal and vowed to take measures to protect a Russian businessman, accused by US authorities for smuggling arms to terrorist group.
On Smolenskaya Square said that the extradition of Russian businessman Washington contradicts “the two decisions of the Criminal Court of Thailand, to confess Bout unproven.”
Directly to Foreign Minister Hon Sergei Lavrov Said the issue Bout, Being a working Visit to Kenya. At a Press Conference in Nairobi, He Said That the actions of the Thai Authorities Are the result of Political pressure, US and “Model of a blatant injustice. “
Booth Tuesday exported from Thailand, the United States to be accused of arms trafficking.
“Contrary to the two solutions Criminal Court of Thailand, to confess Bout unproven, that a Russian citizen after more than two years of detention in a Thai prison, gave US law enforcement agencies. These actions, according to Thai media, made with the approval of the Government of Thailand – says the Russian Foreign Ministry statement. – In terms of law has occurred may not have a rational explanation and justification. “
On Tuesday, Prime Minister Hon of Thailand Abhisit Vejjajiva Announced Plans for the immediate extradition of Russian Businessman. According to HIM, the Cabinet Approved the request to the Appropriate US Authorities. Thus, the last Obstacle to the extradition of Bout’s US, HAD Been withdrawn.
As stated earlier the Russian service Bi-BBC head of the consular department of the Russian embassy in Thailand Andrew Dvornikov or wife of Victor Bout, nor consul meet today with no avail.
Bout has denied Washington’s main of which – the supply of arms to Colombian guerrillas from the group FARC, which the US declared a terrorist organization.
In Russia, the 43-Year-Old Businessman, Nothing is Charged, and the Russian Foreign Ministry Has repeatedly protested Against thePressAttempts to reach HIS deportation to the US.
Hard decision
August 20 the Highest Court in Thailand Clickauthorized the Issuance of Victor Bout , Who WAS the supposed to Happen Within three months.
Later, the court again postponed the extradition of Thai, citing the need to consider the second charge against him of the American prosecutors.
However, in October a court in Bangkok allowed to withdraw a second request for the grant of U.S. Buta, check the extradition on the first request.
If a Russian citizen is found guilty, under U.S. law he could face life in prison.
As the correspondent of BBC in Bangkok Vodin England, the decision to extradite Mr. Bout was not easy for the government of Thailand.
Viktor Bout, a former served in the Soviet military transport aircraft, may have information about the Russian military and intelligence activities.
Analysts believe that Moscow might have feared that he would testify at the trial in the U.S. and tell us more than we would like the Russian leadership.
Lord of War?
Bout was arrested in March 2008 in Bangkok, where he was lured out of U.S. intelligence agents posing as FARC rebels.
In the U.S., Belgium and some other Western countries Bout was suspected of fueling bloody conflicts in countries such as Sierra Leone, Angola, Rwanda and Sudan.
He is considered the prototype of the hero of Hollywood movie “Lord of War”, played by Nicolas Cage.
This film and press coverage “demonized” Mr. Bout in the eyes of American public opinion, which excludes the possibility of a fair trial in the U.S., said in a recent interview with the BBC’s wife Russians Alla Bout.
Victor Bout himself says that his business was limited to the transport carriage.
Comments : Leave a Comment »
Categories : image of the beast
[As Bout is extensively discussed in "Shadow Masters" and there are suggestions of linkage to both Oklahoma City and 9/11, and as Oklahoma City is brushed by in the book "The Last Circle", it'd be interesting to have a panel discussion with Estulin and Cheri Seymour. That will be featured in the first annual Deep Politics Forum virtual conference which will be announced shortly after I win the lottery.] :eating:
16 11 2010 Extradition of ‘arms dealer’ Viktor Bout goes ahead
Heavy security surrounded Mr Bout as he was transferred from prison to the airport
Alleged arms dealer Viktor Bout is on his way to the United States from Thailand after being extradited.
He was flown out of Bangkok shortly after the Thai cabinet backed the extradition request after months of legal wrangling.
Mr Bout was arrested by US agents posing as Colombian Farc rebels after he allegedly tried to sell them weapons in a Bangkok hotel in 2008.
The Russian national now faces trial for conspiring to sell weapons.
If convicted, he faces a maximum penalty of life in prison.
Mr Bout, who is 43, spent more than 15 years allegedly running guns to African warlords and Islamic militants.
He was dubbed the Merchant of Death by a British politician.
But he denies being, or ever having been, an arms dealer – and Moscow also insists he is innocent.
Thai dilemma
Mr Bout’s wife Alla rushed to the prison in a bid to see him – but found she was too late
Mr Bout was flown out of Bangkok on a charter flight hours after Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva said the Thai cabinet had backed an appeal court ruling which cleared the way for his extradition.
Dozens of police officers watched over the operation as Mr Bout was transferred from a maximum-security prison to the airport.
His wife, Alla Bout, who has been a frequently tearful figure at Mr Bout’s court hearings over more than two years of detention since he was arrested, appeared outside the prison in an apparent attempt to see her husband before he left – but she was too late.
Mr Abhisit has faced a difficult dilemma over Mr Bout’s case, says the BBC’s Vaudine England in Bangkok: Whether to co-operate with long-standing ally the United States or to appease Russia which has a growing tourist and business presence in Thailand.
The courts went back and forth, promising and then delaying the extradition.
A Thai court ruled in August that the extradition should go ahead within three months.
The US even sent a plane to pick him up – but that move proved to be over-confident, our correspondent says.
The courts delayed the extradition again, saying that other charges of money laundering and fraud, earlier laid by US prosecutors, had to be examined.
In October, the court decided to drop those charges, clearing the way for extradition.
But Moscow has been demanding his release, saying that Mr Bout is an innocent businessman and criticising the extradition moves as politically motivated.
‘Illegal’
Both Mr Bout’s wife and the Russian embassy have expressed surprise at the sudden nature of Mr Bout’s removal.
“Nobody knew about this [the extradition], neither I nor the lawyer,” she told Russia’s Rossiya Television.
“I came to the prison but Viktor was no longer there. This is clearly a decision that has been lobbied for by the US and taken under US pressure because only several days remained till Viktor’s term was up and, under the law, he was supposed to be freed because from the legal point of view, from the point of view of legality, we had every ground to win this case.”
Moscow says Mr Bout is the victim of a politically motivated campaignIn remarks quoted by Russian news agency Interfax, Mr Bout’s attorney Viktor Burobin alleged the extradition was illegal “because the Thai court never reviewed the second US extradition request”.
A Russian embassy official told the BBC that the Russian consul had also been unable to see Mr Bout.
Mr Bout, a former Russian air force officer, is thought to have knowledge of Russia’s military and intelligence operations.
Diplomats fear the revelations Mr Bout might make in open court, our correspondent says.
Comments : Leave a Comment »
Categories : The Most Moral Army In the World?, image of the beast
####
Lavrov: extradition of Bout – the result of US pressure
16 11 2010 Lavrov: extradition of Bout – the result of US pressure
Bout has denied Washington The Russian Foreign Ministry called the extradition of Viktor Bout to the US illegal and vowed to take measures to protect a Russian businessman, accused by US authorities for smuggling arms to terrorist group.
On Smolenskaya Square said that the extradition of Russian businessman Washington contradicts “the two decisions of the Criminal Court of Thailand, to confess Bout unproven.”
Directly to Foreign Minister Hon Sergei Lavrov Said the issue Bout, Being a working Visit to Kenya. At a Press Conference in Nairobi, He Said That the actions of the Thai Authorities Are the result of Political pressure, US and “Model of a blatant injustice. “
Booth Tuesday exported from Thailand, the United States to be accused of arms trafficking.
“Contrary to the two solutions Criminal Court of Thailand, to confess Bout unproven, that a Russian citizen after more than two years of detention in a Thai prison, gave US law enforcement agencies. These actions, according to Thai media, made with the approval of the Government of Thailand – says the Russian Foreign Ministry statement. – In terms of law has occurred may not have a rational explanation and justification. “
On Tuesday, Prime Minister Hon of Thailand Abhisit Vejjajiva Announced Plans for the immediate extradition of Russian Businessman. According to HIM, the Cabinet Approved the request to the Appropriate US Authorities. Thus, the last Obstacle to the extradition of Bout’s US, HAD Been withdrawn.
As stated earlier the Russian service Bi-BBC head of the consular department of the Russian embassy in Thailand Andrew Dvornikov or wife of Victor Bout, nor consul meet today with no avail.
Bout has denied Washington’s main of which – the supply of arms to Colombian guerrillas from the group FARC, which the US declared a terrorist organization.
In Russia, the 43-Year-Old Businessman, Nothing is Charged, and the Russian Foreign Ministry Has repeatedly protested Against thePressAttempts to reach HIS deportation to the US.
Hard decision
August 20 the Highest Court in Thailand Clickauthorized the Issuance of Victor Bout , Who WAS the supposed to Happen Within three months.
Later, the court again postponed the extradition of Thai, citing the need to consider the second charge against him of the American prosecutors.
However, in October a court in Bangkok allowed to withdraw a second request for the grant of U.S. Buta, check the extradition on the first request.
If a Russian citizen is found guilty, under U.S. law he could face life in prison.
As the correspondent of BBC in Bangkok Vodin England, the decision to extradite Mr. Bout was not easy for the government of Thailand.
Viktor Bout, a former served in the Soviet military transport aircraft, may have information about the Russian military and intelligence activities.
Analysts believe that Moscow might have feared that he would testify at the trial in the U.S. and tell us more than we would like the Russian leadership.
Lord of War?
Bout was arrested in March 2008 in Bangkok, where he was lured out of U.S. intelligence agents posing as FARC rebels.
In the U.S., Belgium and some other Western countries Bout was suspected of fueling bloody conflicts in countries such as Sierra Leone, Angola, Rwanda and Sudan.
He is considered the prototype of the hero of Hollywood movie “Lord of War”, played by Nicolas Cage.
This film and press coverage “demonized” Mr. Bout in the eyes of American public opinion, which excludes the possibility of a fair trial in the U.S., said in a recent interview with the BBC’s wife Russians Alla Bout.
Victor Bout himself says that his business was limited to the transport carriage.
Comments : Leave a Comment »
Categories : image of the beast
####
Lavrov: extradition of Bout – the result of US pressure
16 11 2010 Lavrov: extradition of Bout – the result of US pressure
Bout has denied Washington The Russian Foreign Ministry called the extradition of Viktor Bout to the US illegal and vowed to take measures to protect a Russian businessman, accused by US authorities for smuggling arms to terrorist group.
On Smolenskaya Square said that the extradition of Russian businessman Washington contradicts “the two decisions of the Criminal Court of Thailand, to confess Bout unproven.”
Directly to Foreign Minister Hon Sergei Lavrov Said the issue Bout, Being a working Visit to Kenya. At a Press Conference in Nairobi, He Said That the actions of the Thai Authorities Are the result of Political pressure, US and “Model of a blatant injustice. “
Booth Tuesday exported from Thailand, the United States to be accused of arms trafficking.
“Contrary to the two solutions Criminal Court of Thailand, to confess Bout unproven, that a Russian citizen after more than two years of detention in a Thai prison, gave US law enforcement agencies. These actions, according to Thai media, made with the approval of the Government of Thailand – says the Russian Foreign Ministry statement. – In terms of law has occurred may not have a rational explanation and justification. “
On Tuesday, Prime Minister Hon of Thailand Abhisit Vejjajiva Announced Plans for the immediate extradition of Russian Businessman. According to HIM, the Cabinet Approved the request to the Appropriate US Authorities. Thus, the last Obstacle to the extradition of Bout’s US, HAD Been withdrawn.
As stated earlier the Russian service Bi-BBC head of the consular department of the Russian embassy in Thailand Andrew Dvornikov or wife of Victor Bout, nor consul meet today with no avail.
Bout has denied Washington’s main of which – the supply of arms to Colombian guerrillas from the group FARC, which the US declared a terrorist organization.
In Russia, the 43-Year-Old Businessman, Nothing is Charged, and the Russian Foreign Ministry Has repeatedly protested Against thePressAttempts to reach HIS deportation to the US.
Hard decision
August 20 the Highest Court in Thailand Clickauthorized the Issuance of Victor Bout , Who WAS the supposed to Happen Within three months.
Later, the court again postponed the extradition of Thai, citing the need to consider the second charge against him of the American prosecutors.
However, in October a court in Bangkok allowed to withdraw a second request for the grant of U.S. Buta, check the extradition on the first request.
If a Russian citizen is found guilty, under U.S. law he could face life in prison.
As the correspondent of BBC in Bangkok Vodin England, the decision to extradite Mr. Bout was not easy for the government of Thailand.
Viktor Bout, a former served in the Soviet military transport aircraft, may have information about the Russian military and intelligence activities.
Analysts believe that Moscow might have feared that he would testify at the trial in the U.S. and tell us more than we would like the Russian leadership.
Lord of War?
Bout was arrested in March 2008 in Bangkok, where he was lured out of U.S. intelligence agents posing as FARC rebels.
In the U.S., Belgium and some other Western countries Bout was suspected of fueling bloody conflicts in countries such as Sierra Leone, Angola, Rwanda and Sudan.
He is considered the prototype of the hero of Hollywood movie “Lord of War”, played by Nicolas Cage.
This film and press coverage “demonized” Mr. Bout in the eyes of American public opinion, which excludes the possibility of a fair trial in the U.S., said in a recent interview with the BBC’s wife Russians Alla Bout.
Victor Bout himself says that his business was limited to the transport carriage.
Comments : Leave a Comment »
Categories : image of the beast
[As Bout is extensively discussed in "Shadow Masters" and there are suggestions of linkage to both Oklahoma City and 9/11, and as Oklahoma City is brushed by in the book "The Last Circle", it'd be interesting to have a panel discussion with Estulin and Cheri Seymour. That will be featured in the first annual Deep Politics Forum virtual conference which will be announced shortly after I win the lottery.] :eating:
"Where is the intersection between the world's deep hunger and your deep gladness?"