Victor Bout

[Magda Hassan]

Now here’s what I don’t like about it as a Russian citizen. I don’t know whether Bout is guilty or not. But I do know that a Russian citizen went on holiday abroad as a tourist. He traveled to Thailand, where he was arrested based on a mandate that the United States issued for some reason. But as far as I know, there’s no proof that he committed any crimes in the United States. Then he was held in prison for quite a long time. Not because he broke any laws in the country where he was arrested, but because the Americans felt he had done something wrong somewhere. Then he was surrendered entirely to US custody. Not, mind you, to Russia, where he came from and where he’s a citizen. And they’re doing all that against his will.
Now he’ll probably be prosecuted in the United States for something he didn’t do on US territory. That’s a dangerous precedent. Let me explain. Any country on earth can use that as justification to seize a citizen of any another country, extradite him, try him and punish him as it sees fit. By the way, America has the death penalty, whereas Russia established a moratorium on it.

What we have here is a violation of the basic principles of international law.

Well, I'll have to scratch Thailand off the list of holiday destinations.