Victor Bout

[Ed Jewett]

Russian Granit Cruise Missile

17 11 2010 the missile alleged to have been sold by Viktor Bout, allegedly used in the 911 Pentagon strike


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lY-gmzxna...r_embedded


####


Pentagon Missile Strike, new angle


VodPod video embedded at the above link

[Ed Jewett]

Tuesday, November 16, 2010

"You call me evil but unfortunately for you I'm a necessary evil" 

"I'm not a fool. Just because they needed me that day didn't mean they wouldn't make me a scapegoat the next."


Those lines from Nicholas Cage at the end of 'Lord of War' may sum up the life of Viktor Bout who is alleged to be the inspiration for the movie.

Bout is now in U.S. custody and the media and the paparazzi have a target, a 'terrorist' star' who is also useful to spin up some old time cold war rifts in U.S. and Russian relations. As Daniel Estulin says, Bout is just a pawn, endgame - to get at Russia. There's even a website dedicated to debunking the Bout 'official story.'



Among the allegations thrown at Bout are that he plays all sides.

Suspected clients included Liberia’s Charles TaylorCharles Taylor and Libyan leader Moammar GadhafiMoammar Gadhafi, the French government, U.N. and U.S. has also allegedly used some of his planes.

Well, that's what the arms trade does. Bankers love it, the manufactures love it. War relies on the creation of two or more sides heavily armed. Genocide may only need one side armed but there's still profit to made in it. As long as it suits the purposes of those in power who don't care how many people die, especially those of color or ethnicity, traffickers are used as both 'necessary evils' and scapegoats when the need arises.

But even if Bout has done all he is accused of and more, it's still small time. The real money is in state sanctioned 'legal' weapons of war where the U.S. is number one by far. Combat planes are the big seller. It makes the trade in AK47's and small missiles peanuts in comparison. The only comparable money maker is drugs and with the CIA having a hand in much of that trade in Afghanistan, Columbia and elsewhere, it's only logical that arms, dope and war will walk hand in hand. It makes the bankers smile.

The U.S. not only sells all the big ticket items of war it can, it also gives them away. 20 F-35's worth maybe $3 billion to be given to Israel in exchange for agreeing to a 90 day settlement construction freeze? All paid for through extortion of the American taxpayer via a controlled and corrupt government. Bribery and blackmail does you somewhere.


Thinking about all this makes me yearn for a little diversion. I know where I can get my hands on a copy of 'Lord of War' and watch it again. It's a great movie and I don't say that very often.
Posted by kenny's sideshow at 9:31 PM

[Ed Jewett]

A YouTube from an RT program:
Daniel Estulin 'Bilderberg using Bout as a pawn'

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jYwLiadf1..._embedded#!

[Ed Jewett]

The Bout Affair: America as Magistrate

by Andre Fomine / November 18th, 2010
The United States has again shown that it considers the “reset” of relations with Russia strictly a one-way street. And it is not willing to give up an inch of its own interests and ambitions of achieving global hegemony for the sake of the reset process, which has already moved into the realm of pure myth.
We learned today that Viktor Bout, a Russian citizen detained by the Thailand government two years ago and charged with illegally supplying arms to the FARC (a Colombian group Washington lists as a terrorist group), has been extradited to the United States on a charter flight from a military airport in Bangkok.
The decision to surrender our fellow countryman to the mercy of the American “justice” system (several US states still have the death penalty, and the medieval methods for beating testimony out of detainees in Guantánamo and other American “concentration-like” camps have been condemned even by the US satellites in Europe) looks even more questionable when we consider that Bangkok acted against two decisions by Thailand’s criminal court which acknowledged that Bout’s guilt is unproven. And it happened despite repeated petitions by Russian authorities on behalf of its citizen insisting on Viktor Bout’s return to his homeland so his alleged crimes can be investigated.
The reaction of the Russian Foreign Ministry to US insult to the reset process can be called adequate, although perhaps too diplomatically restrained. Spokesmen for Russia’s foreign-policy ministry stressed that they have no doubt that “the illegal extradition of Victor Bout is a result of unprecedented pressure from the United States on Thailand’s government and judicial system.” The Ministry of Foreign Affairs said, “All of this can be characterized as nothing other than interference in the administration of justice, and it calls into question the independence of Thailand’s judicial system and the decisions made by the Thai authorities.”
The Prime-Tass news agency reports that Russia’s head diplomat Sergei Lavrov called Thailand’s decision a “blatant miscarriage of justice.”
Comment by Andrei Klimov, Deputy Chairman of the State Duma Committee for International Affairs, on the Thai government’s decision to extradite Viktor Bout to the United States:

I view this step by the Thai government as an action far outside the bounds of international law and the common understanding of justice. The same applies to the actions by the US authorities who started all this.

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.
This is no different from what they set up in Guantánamo. After all, what is happening in Guantánamo? If the Americans think somebody is a terrorist, they capture him, hold him without a trial or investigation and torture him. And they don’t even do that on their own territory.
What we have here is a violation of the basic principles of international law.
Andre Fomine is the founder of the open dialogue research journal Oriental Review where this article first appeared. Read other articles by Andre.
This article was posted on Thursday, November 18th, 2010 at 7:00am and is filed under Espionage/"Intelligence", Guantanamo, Russia, Thailand.

[Ed Jewett]

Why has Viktor Bout been extradited to the US?
By Jerry Mazza
Online Journal Associate Editor


Nov 19, 2010, 00:22

[email=?subject=Why%20has%20Viktor%20Bout%20been%20extradited%20to%20the%20US%3F&body=http%3A%2F%2Fonlinejournal.com%2Fartman%2Fpublish%2Farticle_6604.shtml]Email this article[/email]
Printer friendly page
Ex-Russian Air Force officer Viktor Bout, accused of selling weapons to insurgents across the world for two decades, has been extradited to the US to face terrorism charges. Bout was flown from Bangkok to New York Wednesday and directed to the Metropolitan Correction Center in lower Manhattan and appeared in Federal Court yesterday.
Touted as �The Merchant of Death,� Bout, according to the Wall Street Journal, pleaded not guilty to charges that he agreed to supply Colombian terrorists with weapons with the intent to kill Americans.� An earlier, updated NY1 story included accusations that Bout provided support to �groups in Africa, South America, and the Middle-East who tried to kill Americans,� the recurring theme.
Bout�s wealth is purported to be $6 billion. Bout was arrested in Thailand in 2008, and his extradition comes despite pleas from Russia for Thailand to release him. Bout claims to be a legit businessman, innocent of all charges. Yet, not only has the case impacted negatively on relations between the US and Russia, it endangers further cooperation on issues including arms control and the war in Afghanistan.
The WSJ reported that Manhattan US Attorney Preet Bharara said at a press conference, �The so-called �Merchant of Death� is now a federal inmate,� referring to a nickname Bout received for his activity over the years. No one is beyond the reach of the law,� Bharara added. He said Bout �was secretly recorded advocating that his weapons be used to kill Americans and that he supported FARC�s goals.�
The WSJ also writes about Bout, �He was added to the specially designated nationals list at the Office of Foreign Assets Control in July 2004 for weapons trafficking activity in Liberia and the indictment says 30 more companies and four individuals linked to him were added in April 2005.�
According to the indictment, �U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency agents, working undercover with confidential sources posing as agents of the Colombian rebel group FARC, convinced Bout to sell them weapons including 700 to 800 surface-to-air missiles, 5,000 AK-47 firearms, unmanned drones and land mines, for the purpose of killing Americans. The conspiracy with the agents lasted from November 2007 through March 2008, when Bout was arrested at a hotel in Bangkok.�
Again, this sounds like entrapment, a sting to snare a purported �terror kingpin.� If Bout is convicted on all four counts, he faces a maximum sentence of life in prison, or a minimum of 25 years in prison.
What�s doubly questionable is why Bout has been taken to New York at this time, when New York City has just booted the Khalid Sheik Mohammed trial from the city (and state), given its expense, disruption of life, and putting on our map another purported face of terror, unsettling as it might be to our Joe the Plumbers, et al.
Khalid Sheik Mohammed, who confessed to everything but the sinking of the Maine, was waterboarded 183 times in March 2003. KSM�s torture-taken confessions were asked to be retaken terror-free by George Bush, after being criticized by human rights groups. Of course KSM held tight to his claim of being the �Mastermind of 9/11,� and looked forward to meeting his maker.
US Attorney General Eric Holder was put on notice to rid New York of the KSM trial, but no state has been picked yet. Perhaps KSM will spend the balance of his days riding in an armed vehicle in an armada of armed vehicles, like a man without a country.
Bouts� extradition from Thailand was fought hard by the Russian government, and it could imperil U.S.-Russian relations, as mentioned. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov called the extradition an �extreme injustice,� claiming his government will defend Bout �by any means,� the WSJ reported.
Also at the press conference, �Bharara announced the guilty plea of Andrew Smulian, who faced the same four counts as Bout�s associate. He agreed to cooperate with the investigation, and faces a maximum of life in prison, or a minimum of 25 years.� He sounds like the mole in the operation.
Holder added, in a statement, �Viktor Bout has been indicted in the United States, but his alleged arms trafficking activity and support of armed conflicts in Africa has been a cause of concern around the world. His extradition is a victory for the rule of law worldwide.�
However, Holder didn�t mention that the US operates and/or controls between 700 and 800 military bases worldwide, which leverages our power over life and death globally. Anybody have any complaints about this as world terrorism?
Estulin to the defense
The noted author of The True Story of the Bilderberg Group, Daniel Estulin, and most recently of Shadow Masters -- How governments and their intelligence agencies are working with international drug dealers and terrorists for mutual benefit and profit, claims that �Viktor Bout, named the �Merchant of Death,� has been designated second only to Osama bin Laden as the world�s most evil person.�
His personal investigation of Bout claims to �have ripped the lid off one of the most sinister and mind-boggling deceptions of recent times.� Estulin spent over six months in Thailand, attending court hearings and visiting Bout in prison, obtaining exclusive interviews. And, with unprecedented access to Bout�s business files and personal materials, the author shows the [past] accusations to be less than the truth -- a fable serving the needs of the Shadow Masters, i.e. the unseen forces of political power.
In Shadow Masters, Estulin devotes a 74-page chapter to Viktor Bout�s trial and career as an arms dealer. In my review of his book, Shading corruption for the appearance of truth,I wrote of Estulin�s chapter, �We are introduced to the enigmatic Viktor Bout: an old fashioned Russian gun-runner or a �modern day Satan,� second only in the press�s eyes to Osama Bin Laden, himself a patsy for the WTC bombings.
�Bout, nicknamed �The Merchant of Death,� turns up in major media as responsible for almost every conceivable form of weapons-running imaginable, including for Kellogg Brown & Root and subsequently Haliburton.�
Estulin questions the media-myth-making versus realities of who Bout is. As Bout was finally arrested in Thailand, given a six months long trial, Estulin attended trial hearings, and, as stated, gained exclusive interviews with nearly absolute access to Bout�s financial records. Estulin�s conclusions show that the accusations against Bout were less than the truth and that he finally was released.
So if Viktor Bout was released after a six-month trial in Thailand, from one of the worst prisons in Southeast Asia, why then is he being booted to the USA against the protestations of his native country, Russia? Could it be to continue refreshing the �terrorist among us� myth, the ongoing phys-ops of US intelligence?
Bout, born in Russia in 1967, was originally posted as a military translator in Mozambique in a two-year stint in the late �80s, not long after the Soviet Union began its implosion. He returned with his wife in 1991, the implosion in full bloom.
That�s when Bout entered weapons trafficking, specializing in Russian arms, small-caliber arms as well as sophisticated weapon systems, according to Estulin. Admittedly, associates ranged from former US military personnel and Russian officials to African heads of state and organized crime figures. He is closely linked to African dictators and rebel leaders like the late Angolan rebel leader Jonas Savimbi; to former Liberian president, accused mass murderer Charles Taylor, but also to Northern Alliance (Afghanistan) leader Ahmed Sha Massoud, who was Bout�s friend and our ally till he was murdered by the Taliban, Estulin points out.
Bout mixed legal and not-so-legal airline activities, Estulin adds, carrying legit wares of all kinds as well. In Estulin�s opinion, �the notion of an amoral man selling death for profit is extremely unpalatable. The idea of living off someone else�s misery, fueling conflicts the world over, makes me cringe.� This description, Estulin found, did not fit Bout.
Lee Scott Wolosky, former National Security Advisor, and adviser to both Clinton and Bush, claimed that Bout, in his heyday, had close to 200 planes flying. But he was scaled back to 60, significantly less after 9/11/2001, Estulin reports. So, Bout was no angel, nor was he a demon, Estulin says, like so many suddenly unemployed Russian pilots. This is an image Estulin, a fellow Russian, who�s family had to flee Russia due to his father�s political beliefs, can live with. For the complete story, read Estulin�s fine book, a fairer, more balanced look at Bout, whom Estulin does not consider a �devout terrorist,� which seems to be what he�s being set up for now.
Returning to the sins of our own CIA, remember they recruited, armed, trained, and financed the Muslim Mujahadeen, including Osama bin Laden, on whose laptop was the FILE titled Al Qaeda, �the base,� which included the outstanding fighters bin Laden encountered in the war against Russia in Afghanistan.
The CIA turned Al Qaeda into the brand name for terrorism, in a brutal war that bled Russia�s resources and ended in humiliating defeat and the Taliban�s rise. We seem to have taken no lessons from Russia�s futile combat in a country that drove out Alexander the Great, Genghis Khan, and the British Empire. So why are we stoking the embers of disaster with Russia (not to mention Afghanistan) again -- over one of Russia�s wayward citizens whom they want back?
Yes, Viktor Bout is an arms dealer, but so is the US quite frankly, and Israel, France and other nations. But why do we add the hook that Bout supplied arms to �groups who wanted to kill Americans only,� as if his sole purpose was to single us out and only us? Was he angry at us for decimating his nation and its economy?
After all, Israel sold billions in arms, including nuclear weapons to the Apartheid government of South Africa for 20 years, from 1975-95. And France helped Israel build its first nuclear reactor at Dimona in the Negev Desert in 1956. So here we have entire nations, let alone individuals, still playing these games. Are these nations� leaders brought to the Hague and tried, any of them?
Nevertheless, we�ll sit by as one arms dealer turns into the poster boy, post bin Laden, for providing support to most of the �groups in Africa, South Africa and the Middle-East who tried to kill Americans,� or as he�s tortured into a confession.
The effect will be to buttress our �good-guy� fantasies in the face of brutalities for which we are called �terrorists.� In fact, I�m still waiting for Lloyd Blankfein, Ben Bernanke, or any of the financial terrorists of Wall Street to serve their time for spreading Weapons of Mass Financial Destruction. So far, there�s one: Bernie Madoff. Dozens more would be great.
Jerry Mazza is a freelance writer and life-long resident of New York City. Reach him at gvmaz@verizon.net. An EBook version of his book of poems �State Of Shock� is now available at Amazon.com and Barnesandnoble.com. He has also written hundreds of articles on American and world politics as an Associate Editor of Online Journal.
Copyright © 1998-2007 Online Journal
Email Online Journal Editor




{N.B.: I e-mailed the editor some time ago about permission on a prior not-yet-posted article but have received no response as yet.]

[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.

[David Guyatt]

Probably best anyway, bearing in mind it is the destination du jour for the world's Paedophiles....

[Ed Jewett]

Thailand PM cancels Russia trip, Bout link denied

Thailand’s prime minister abruptly cancelled an imminent visit to Russia on Thursday, a government spokesman said, just days after the kingdom outraged Moscow by extraditing an alleged arms dealer.
Thailand’s Prime Minister, Abhisit Vejjajiva, abruptly cancelled an imminent visit to Russia on Thursday, a government spokesman said, just days after the kingdom outraged Moscow by extraditing an alleged arms dealer.
Thailand expelled Viktor Bout, who is suspected of being one of the world’s biggest arms traffickers, on Tuesday to face trial in the United States after a prolonged legal battle and fierce opposition from his home country Russia.
Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva has since cancelled a trip to Saint Petersburg to attend a summit on tigers, but spokesman Panitan Wattanayagorn said this was to discuss constitutional amendments and denied any link to the extradition.
“The prime minister has assigned Suwit Khunkitti, the environmental minister, to attend the summit because next week parliament will debate charter amendments,” Panitan told reporters.
“It has nothing to do with the Bout case.”
Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin is due to host the four-day summit, which begins on Sunday and aims to halt the decline of the big cats.
Bout’s sudden extradition came shortly after the Thai cabinet approved his handover in a move that prompted fresh fury from Moscow, which had vowed to do all it could to bring him home.
The Russian foreign ministry said his extradition was “illegal” and prompted by US pressure.
A top Russian diplomat in New York, where the suspect pleaded not guilty to terrorism charges on Wednesday, has also accused Thai authorities of taking away all of Bout’s personal possessions.
The 43-year-old former Soviet air force pilot had been fighting extradition on terrorism charges since his March 2008 arrest after a sting operation in Bangkok involving undercover US agents posing as Colombian FARC rebels.
Thailand’s Foreign Minister Kasit Piromya denied the extradition would hurt ties with Russia, despite Moscow’s dissatisfaction.
“We still enjoy a cordial relationship with Russia. We should not let this single issue affect it,” he told reporters.


Comments : Leave a Comment »

Categories : Uncategorized Russians claim Thai law was violated

19 11 2010 Russians claim Thai law was violated

Bangkok Post
The extradition of alleged arms smuggler Viktor Bout was carried out secretly and violated both international obligations and Thai law, the Russian embassy in Bangkok says.
In a statement sent to media outlets yesterday, the Russian embassy said it was “surprised” by the statement by the Foreign Ministry’s acting spokesman Thani Thongphakdi on Wednesday that Thailand had kept both Russia and the US closely informed of the Thai legal process developments.
“The Russian side, including the embassy, was not informed that the Thai government has taken the decision to extradite the Russian citizen to the US and that the extradition has actually taken place,” the embassy said.
“We have learned about it solely from the media, while the official notification … was received by the embassy only on Nov 18 [yesterday].”
The embassy also claimed the extradition was in breach of Thailand’s extradition law because the Appeal Court had accepted Mr Bout’s appeal concerning the violation of legal procedures during the consideration of the second US extradition request by the court.
“According to Section 19 of the Law on Extradition of Thailand, the Russian citizen was not to be extradited before the court has taken a decision on the said appeal,” the embassy said.
A Russian diplomat said yesterday US authorities pressured Mr Bout to admit his guilt on the way to the US, offering him unspecified benefits in return.
“Some pressure was applied in transit. In Viktor Bout’s words, they tried to ‘persuade me to admit to things I did not do’, promising certain advantages in return,” consul Andrei Yushmanov told Russian reporters in New York. “Viktor Anatolyevich rejected these efforts.”


Comments : Leave a Comment »
Tags: state terrorism
Categories : How Do We Build the Resistance?, image of the beast, The Most Moral Army In the World?

[Carsten Wiethoff]

The following cable (from http://wikileaks.dd19.de/cable/2009/08/09BANGKOK1998.html)
shows the length of the efforts the US was undertaking to extradite Bout from Bangkok. I highlighted dome areas that interested me.

S E C R E T SECTION 01 OF 04 BANGKOK 001998

SIPDIS

STATE FOR EAP/MLS, NSC FOR BADER

EO 12958 DECL: 08/13/2019
TAGS PTER, KCRM, TH, RS, CO
SUBJECT: NEXT STEPS ON THE VIKTOR BOUT EXTRADITION CASE IN
THE WAKE OF LOWER COURT DEFEAT
REF: BANGKOK 385 (NOTAL)

Classified By: Ambassador Eric G. John, reasons 1.4 (b) and (d)

¶1. © Summary and comment. The disappointing August 11 Thai Lower Court ruling against the extradition of Russian arms trafficker Viktor Bout, and its dubious legal reasoning, requires a multi-pronged effort to seek a successful reversal during the appeals process. The lead judge’s foray into foreign policy, rejecting the terrorism label and in effect embracing the FARC’s activities as purely political in nature, not criminal or acts of terrorism, has implications for Thailand. His confusion of the “dual criminality” concept with jurisdictional issues similarly raises questions for efforts by Thailand to extradite fugitive former PM Thaksin to face justice. The Embassy is working with Thai authorities to file an appeal of the lower court’s ruling and to press home the implications of the court ruling were Bout to walk free. In the early afternoon on August 13, we were assured that the notice of intention to appeal has been filed.

¶2. © At the same time, the Embassy recommends the State Department, Attorney General Holder, and the US Mission to the UN in New York engage the Thai Ambassador in Washington and the Thai PermRep in New York in parallel. In addition, the Department should seriously consider asking Belgium, which issued an arrest warrant for Bout in 2002 for money laundering and conspiracy, Colombia, in the case of the FARC, and African countries which have suffered greatly from Bout’s arms trade in the past to weigh in with the RTG. Finally, we recommend consideration of laying down a marker in Moscow about Bout, looking forward to the possibility that Bout may end up back in Russia were the appeal of the Lower Court ruling might not succeed. End Summary and comment.

Thai Lower Court rules against Bout extradition
--------------------------------------------- --

¶3. © On August 11, the judge in the Viktor Bout extradition case ruled against U.S. and Thai government efforts to extradite Bout to the United States. Two key elements of his reasoning were: that the FARC in Colombia, to which Bout was conspiring to send weapons, was a political rather than a terrorist group; and that the “dual criminality” standard of our extradition treaty with Thailand had not been met since Bout could not be prosecuted in Thailand on the charges which the U.S. wants him to face in the U.S. In our view, the judge was wrong on both counts.

¶4. © After the verdict, as the Department has seen, the DCM spoke on the record to press outside the court room and expressed disappointment and mystification over the ruling and stated that we would fully support RTG efforts to appeal the decision. We have continued the same themes in subsequent interactions with the press.

Engaging the Thai immediately
-----------------------------

¶5. © The Ambassador called Foreign Minister Kasit immediately after the verdict on August 11 and expressed deep disappointment, noting that the verdict was not justified on legal grounds and that the judge had clearly been in error on several key points. He reminded Kasit that over the past year and a half since Bout’s arrest in Bangkok, the USG had repeatedly underlined the importance of the case, all the way up to the Secretary of State and POTUS levels. In the short-term, the Ambassador told Kasit, we need the Foreign Ministry to do its part in forwarding the necessary documentation to the Attorney-General’s office so that the intent to appeal can be filed in the requisite forty-eight hours. (Note: Although the court’s ruling and a new extradition law specify that the appeal must be filed within 72 hours, the applicable extradition law sets forth the shorter time frame, which we have followed.) Kasit assured the Ambassador that he had already instructed his legal department to do so. The Ambassador also told Kasit that we expected Bout would remain in detention during the appeals process. The MFA’s Legal and Treaties Department faxed the Attorney General’s office late evening August 11 supporting the appeal; at the request of the Office of the Attorney General, the Embassy sent a diplomatic note to the MFA and the OAG on August 13 requesting that the RTG appeal the lower court verdict prior to the forty-eight hour deadline (note: the RTG was closed August 12 for a National Holiday, the Queen’s Birthday.) At approximately 1:25 p.m. on August 13, the MFA and OAG advised the Embassy that the requisite notice of intention to appeal had been filed and received by the court.

Next steps
----------

¶6. © The Embassy’s “Bout team” met August 13 to review next steps that will help us prevail on appeal. Our immediate priority was to ensure that the notice of intent to appeal was filed on time (within 48 hours of the verdict) and that the appeal itself is filed within thirty days of the verdict.

¶7. © We will make clear to the RTG that we expect Bout to remain incarcerated during the appeals process, as specified under Thai law and the August 11 court ruling. Given that the same judge will rule on any bail motions brought by Bout (we expect Bout’s attorneys to push hard on bail), however, his custody status during the pendency of the appeal is a genuine concern. We also intend to make clear to the Thai government (the Ambassador is seeking to call FM Kasit, in Malaysia August 13-14 on a working visit, and will engage the highest available MFA official in Bangkok) that we expect this deficient ruling to receive a comprehensive and meaningful review by the appellate court. Moreover, the Ambassador plans to tell Kasit and other senior Thai officials that, given that the Thai government arrested Bout and sought his extradition to the U.S., the Thai government should be as alarmed by the judge’s ruling as we are. Therefore, we would encourage the RTG to issue a public statement expressing disappointment in the judge’s decision, its intention to win on appeal, and a reiteration of Thailand’s commitment to both the struggle against international terrorism and to its extensive law enforcement relationship with the United States. The Ambassador intends to make similar points to newly appointed NSC Secretary General Tawee and to key figures at the Palace. Without being counter-productively heavy-handed, we will make clear that we see Thai executive branch reaction to the ruling as a test of the relationship.

¶8. © At the same time, however, we believe it is important to remember that our partners in the Royal Thai Police, the Office of the Attorney General, the Foreign Ministry, and even the Royal Thai Navy, largely did everything we asked them to do on the Bout case, including going the extra mile to facilitate our requests. Our posture and actions thus should make clear that we are disappointed with the judge’s ruling but not with Thai government cooperation in the Bout case.

¶9. © That said, coming on the heels of the September 2008 Thai appellate ruling affirming a lower court’s denial of our request to extradite Iranian Jamshid Ghassemi, who was in Thailand to procure controlled technology in violation of the Arms Export Control Act, the question has to be asked whether we can count on the Thai courts to do the right thing on high-profile extradition cases that will affect Thailand’s relations with third countries (we continue to have a perfect record on routine extraditions from Thailand to the United States). Our reluctant conclusion is that we cannot.

¶10. (S) The Department will recall that in February of this year, after significant indications that the Russians were trying to use bribes to influence the outcome of the case, the Ambassador made representations to Prime Minister Abhisit (reftel) that we expected the process to be free of inappropriate influence and Abhisit undertook to do so. The
BANGKOK 00001998 003 OF 004
Ambassador also intervened at the same time with Defense Minister Prawit Wongsuwan and the Royal Thai Naval Commander Khamtorn Pumhiran to insist that false testimony by XXXXXXXXXXXX (that Bout had been in Thailand as part of a routine naval procurement) be rebutted. The Thai Navy subsequently issued a letter to that effect. We will remind the Thais of their commitment to a clean process and ask that they assure us again on the front.

What We are Doing here/What We Suggest Washington Do
--------------------------------------------- -------

¶11. © Given the above, we are undertaking the following steps here in Bangkok, most of which should also be reflected when the Department calls in Thai Ambassador Don Pramuwinai, a move we fully support: -- The Ambassador will immediately seek a meeting with Foreign Minister Kasit and other appropriate senior Thai officials to make clear that, while we appreciate the cooperation on Bout over the past year and a half, we are disappointed and mystified by the judge’s ruling, which is flawed on several key points. -- In particular, the judge’s characterization of the FARC as a legitimate political actor would suggest that insurgent groups in southern Thailand are likewise political in nature, perhaps outside the scope of Thailand’s new counterterrorism laws. The ruling also suggests that anyone seeking to send them arms from a third country could not be extradited to Thailand on political grounds. -- Moreover, the judge’s misguided analysis of the “dual criminality” standard suggests that fugitives cannot be extradited from Thailand unless a Thai court actually had jurisdiction over the alleged crime, not whether the alleged conduct is viewed as criminal conduct under the laws of both countries. This decision comes at the same time Thailand is pursuing extradition of fugitive former PM Thaksin Shinawatra for abuse of power/corruption-related charges; the judge’s ruling would also seem to undermine RTG positions in their Thaksin extradition effort. -- Therefore, we expect that the AG’s office will vigorously pursue the appeal of the ruling and that Bout will remain incarcerated during the pendency of the appeal. -- We seek assurances that the case will be afforded a comprehensive and meaningful appellate review, presumably handled by serious, experienced Thai judges. (Note: Appeals are normally handled by a panel of three judges. End Note.) -- We ask that the Thai government issue a statement making clear its own disappointment with the judge’s ruling and reiterating its commitment to the fight against international terrorism and to the law enforcement relationship with the U.S. -- We will continue to make our points to the press and we are pulling together a “FARC fact sheet” for public distribution that we will send in to Washington for comment and clearance today.

¶12. © We suggest that Washington strongly consider the following actions: -- In addition to the Department calling in the Thai Ambassador, we recommend that Attorney General Holder also call him in. AG Holder could point out the extensive U.S. commitment of law enforcement resources to Thailand (DEA and other), as well as our judicial training efforts, and that a statement from the RTG as outlined above would be very helpful as the U.S. decides where best to commit its law enforcement resources around the world. A senior DEA official might also wish to sit in to highlight the massive DEA commitment to Thailand. (Note: Our DOJ Attache who has led our legal efforts on Bout here will be in Washington on August 20-21. End Note.) -- Discussion of a POTUS telcon to PM Abhisit has been under way for some time; they have not spoken in the seven months both have been in office. We suggest that the call be accelerated and that it include a serious discussion of our concerns over the implications of the Bout verdict, as outlined above. We believe POTUS involvement on Bout would have significant effect here. -- We suggest Washington engage the Colombian government on
BANGKOK 00001998 004 OF 004
the implications of the Bout verdict. We suggest inquiring whether Colombia considers the FARC to be a terrorist organization, whether it would be willing to submit a brief in the appeals process, and also make public statements to that effect. We also suggest exploring whether Colombia would be willing to ask Thailand for Bout’s extradition while he (hopefully) is still in detention during the appeals process. (Note: There is no Colombian Embassy in Bangkok; the Embassy in Kuala Lumpur covers Thailand. We understand the Thais cover Colombia from their Embassy in Lima. End note.) It would be useful if the Government of Colombia also raised its concerns in Moscow. -- We also suggest exploring the possibility of whether governments whose citizens have borne the bloody results of Bout’s activities over the years, such as Sierra Leone, Liberia and Congo, would be willing to publicly express dismay/engage the Thai government on the verdict and whether any affected government would be willing to ask for his extradition. -- While the Bout focus is now on Thailand, this is at heart a U.S.-Russian matter. The Department may wish to make clear to Moscow our concerns on Bout’s activities and seek assurances that they will cease. Also, we should consider asking the Russians to prosecute Bout if, in the end, he walks here in Thailand. At the very least perhaps we could force the Russians to publicly refuse to do so. -- The Thai ruling seems inconsistent with several United Nations determinations on Bout’s nature over the years (see below). We suggest our USUN call in the Thai Permrep and lay out how we view the issues in terms of Thailand’s standing with the United Nations. Better yet would be for the appropriate UN official to call in the Thai Permrep and seek an explanation of how the verdict can be justified in light of Thailand’s support of relevant UN resolutions: - UNSCR 1521 (2003) - Liberia - UNSCR 1343 (March 2001) - Liberia - Report of Experts Panel under 1343 - Final Monitoring Report on Angola Sanctions (2000)
-- Finally, despite the listing by the US and EU of the FARC as a terrorist organization, we understand that the FARC is not listed as such by the UN. A move to have the FARC listed formally by the UN would assist the effort to keep Bout in custody. JOHN

[Ed Jewett]

Viktor Bout Statements to U.S. Agents Coerced, Judge Rules
26
08
2011


Viktor Bout Statements to U.S. Agents Coerced, Judge Rules

(Updates with prosecutors' statement in fifth paragraph.)

Aug. 24 (Bloomberg) Viktor Bout, a Russian accused of conspiring to sell weapons to a Colombian terrorist group, won a bid to bar from his trial statements he made after U.S. authorities threatened to abandon him in a Thai prison.

U.S. District Judge Shira A. Scheindlin in Manhattan today granted Bout's request to exclude his comments to Drug Enforcement Administration agents after his arrest in Bangkok, saying the agents ignored Bout's request for more time to decide whether to talk. Bout, 44, said he was told that if he didn't speak immediately, he'd be left in a Thai jail to face "heat, hunger, disease and rape," Scheindlin wrote in her ruling.

"When coupled with the agents' deceptive suggestion that if Bout cooperated' he could come back to the United States with them (rather than be abandoned' in a Thai jail), I find that this credible threat of violence also materially induced Bout to make statements," Scheindlin said.

Albert Dayan, one of Bout's attorneys, didn't immediately return a telephone message left at his office seeking comment on the decision.

"We respectfully disagree with the judge's opinion and plan to request that it be reconsidered," Ellen Davis, a spokeswoman for the Manhattan U.S. Attorney's office, said in a statement.

Rocket Launchers

Bout was arrested on March 6, 2008, in a sting operation. The government said undercover agents told Bout they wanted to buy weapons for the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC, including surface-to-air missiles, armor-piercing rocket launchers and machine guns. His trial is set for Oct. 11.

Scheindlin, who this month denied a second request by Bout to have the charges dismissed, said in today's ruling that his "dramatic arrest," during which he was handcuffed and walked in front of reporters and photographers, along with denial of his requests for an attorney and contact with his embassy, led him to make involuntary statements.

According to Bout's version of events, he was taken into custody by 15 to 20 officers at the Sofitel Hotel in Bangkok, and then strip-searched as police looked for evidence in his hotel room, Scheindlin wrote in today's order. He was then transferred to police headquarters, where he was confronted with 40 to 50 members of the media who took pictures of him, Scheindlin said.

Thai Police Official

A Thai police official then told Bout that U.S. agents wanted to speak with him, and Bout responded that he didn't want to talk to them, saying that he wanted to meet with an attorney and see a representative of the Russian embassy, requests that were denied, Scheindlin said.

About an hour after his arrest, Bout was placed in a room with six or seven U.S. agents and was advised of his rights, which he said he understood, Scheindlin said. During a 20-minute interview that followed, Bout told the agents several times that he was "not in a very good state of mind" and needed more time before he could speak with them, the judge said.

Bout was handcuffed throughout the interview and repeatedly asked the agents if he could speak with them the next day, Scheindlin said.

Two of the agents said during a May court hearing that they weren't aware that Bout had asked for an attorney or a representative of the Russian embassy, the judge said. One of the agents, Robert Zachariasiewicz, denied telling Bout that he wouldn't be able to survive in a Thai jail or that he would be subject to "heat, hunger, disease and rape," Scheindlin said.

Waive Extradition

Zachariasiewicz admitted that he told Bout that the conditions in a Thai jail may not be "pleasant," and that he told him he was facing 25 years to life in prison if convicted of the charges, the judge said. Zachariasiewicz also denied that any of the agents asked Bout to waive extradition and said that Thai authorities made it clear he wasn't coming with them, Scheindlin wrote.

The agents acknowledged that Bout told them he wasn't in a good frame of mind and needed more time before he could speak with them, and also that Bout asked for them to come back the next day, Scheindlin said.

"Both agents testified that they told Bout that it was unlikely that the Thai police would permit them to speak with him tomorrow," the judge said. "I find that the agents' representation on this point was false and find that it is likely they knew that they would have been permitted to see Bout the next day if they had made that request of the Thai police."

The agents also weren't credible when they denied insinuating that Bout might return to the U.S. with them if he cooperated and waived extradition and denied telling Bout that he would face "disease, hunger, heat and rape" in Thai jails, the judge said.

Credit Them Fully'

"To the extent that the statements in Bout's affidavit are uncontradicted I obviously credit them fully," Scheindlin wrote. "To the extent the statements are contradicted they would ordinarily be entitled to less weight than sworn testimony. However, based on Bout's uncontradicted description of the events surrounding the arrest, I find his version of the interview more credible than the version advanced by the agents."

The case is U.S. v. Bout, 08-cr-0365, U.S. District Court, Southern District of New York (Manhattan).

Editor: Fred Strasser, Mary Romano

http://therearenosunglasses.wordpress.co...dge-rules/