Merchant Of Death To Learn Fate Today

[george]

Merchant of death to learn fate today

By John Le Fevre

BANGKOK (thaivisa.com): -- Alleged Russian arms dealer Viktor Bout, dubbed the "Merchant of Death", will learn his fate in a Thai court later today.

Bout, who has been held in a maximum-security prison outside of Bangkok for almost a year-and-a-half, has been fighting an extradition request by the US Government since his arrest in a sting operation last March.

It is alleged the 42-year-old former Soviet air force pilot sold weapons to groups, including to Al-Qaeda, that were used in some of the world's most violent conflicts.

Bout was arrested at the five-star Sofitel hotel after allegedly agreeing to supply surface-to-air missiles to US agents posing as guerrillas from the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC).

His arrest involved not only the Royal Thai Police and the US Drug Enforcement Agency, but also the Romanian Border Police, the Romanian Prosecutor’s Office Attached to the High Court of Cassation and Justice, the Korps Politie Curacao of the Netherlands Antilles and the Danish National Police Security Services.

If sent to the United States and convicted there on terrorism charges, including conspiracy to kill US officers or employees and conspiracy to acquire and use an anti-aircraft missile, the burly Tajikistanian faces life in prison.

Ever since his arrest, the man who is said to have inspired the Hollywood film Lord of War starring Nicolas Cage, has denied any involvement in weapons smuggling, or having been a KGB officer and maintained he ran a legitimate air cargo business.

However, former British foreign office minister Peter Hain dubbed him the "Merchant of Death" and rights watchdog Amnesty International has alleged that at one time he operated a fleet of more than 50 planes ferrying weapons around Africa.

Following his arrest the Russian embassy hired Thai lawyer Lak Nitiwatvichan, who told reporters, “He was a military man. He has done nothing wrong.

Another of Bout’s lawyers, Yan Dasgupta, said “Some [uS] governmental officials at the moment of his detention tried to actually send him to United States without following proper extradition procedure prescribed by the law.

“He was doing everything in his power including physical resistance not to fly to the US.”

Today, the man who earned the consternation of NGOs and foreign governments will learn whether his legal battles are over, or just beginning.

-- thaivisa.com 2009-08-11

[hammered]

so any predictions?

[Lorin]

Its only one way for him: extradition. It will happen sooner or later as US is much stronger on the ground in Thailand than Russia.

[Thaddeus]

It'll probably go to extra time, then penalties.

[animatic]

They want him bad. They may go after backhanders in the film industry and sweatshop crowds,

but on this one, the Thai's can demand and receive, and his ass is flying east to a west coast lock up.

If that doesn't happen today the price just went up is all.

[TAWP]

I hope he manages to fight the charges and is set free.

Given politics however, who knows how the court case will go.

[garyh]

I hope he manages to fight the charges and is set free.

Given politics however, who knows how the court case will go.

Do you have any idea what he is accused of? What about the liberties of the thousands he alleged to be responsible for the death of? However I don't see why usa has to continue to be the worlds self appointed police, the UN should really get there finger out and take control.

Edited August 11, 2009 by garyh

[TAWP]

I hope he manages to fight the charges and is set free.

Given politics however, who knows how the court case will go.

Do you have any idea what he is accused of? What about the liberties of the thousands he alleged to be responsible for the death of? However I don't see why usa has to continue to be the worlds self appointed police, the UN should really get there finger out and take control.

There is absolutely nothing wrong with selling arms.

If it was, let's drag US, UK, Germany, Russia, China, and a whole lot more countries infront of an international court and convict all the politicians approving it.

Seeing it happen yet?

Fact of the matter is that the case brought up to get him extradited is a bogus one. It's not even on the level of getting Capone for tax-evasion, it is much lower.

They are actually charging him with intent - no deal in writing was ever made, he only agreed to meet and possibly sell - arms to a 'Terrorist group', that was nothing more than American Agents posing as South American representatives of one of the many militias in the region.

So it was an entrapment that never even went into conclusion.

He is a merchant of arms and in a true free world he would be allowed to sell to anyone and any country he wishes.

[mizzi39]

I hope he manages to fight the charges and is set free.

Given politics however, who knows how the court case will go.

Do you have any idea what he is accused of? What about the liberties of the thousands he alleged to be responsible for the death of? However I don't see why usa has to continue to be the worlds self appointed police, the UN should really get there finger out and take control.

Being an American, I don't understand why we have to be policing the world either. I wish the rest of the world could take care of themselves and stop relying so much on the USA.

[Deez]

I hope he manages to fight the charges and is set free.

Given politics however, who knows how the court case will go.

Thankfully we dont live in your world.

[Plus]

I don't see anyone relying on the USA to police anything in this part of the world. Thailand has got dragged into this case it has absolutely no stake in.

Latest Clinton visit could have had influence on the extradition case, and it could have gone either way, depending on what that "change" actually is.

[TAWP]

I hope he manages to fight the charges and is set free.

Given politics however, who knows how the court case will go.

Thankfully we dont live in your world.

Millions of people disagree.

But yes, there are also millions of people in the world that likes to dictate what others should and should not be allowed to do, even if it is something that has no impact on themselves.

People advocating true liberty will always have an uphill struggle. Authoritarians have it much easier.

[Tigs]

Much as I hate to agree with TAWP (by that I mean on the principles and ethics of arms dealing), I do believe he has a point. If this guy didnt sell the arms then most likely the big arms companies would have done. When it comes to the sale of arms there is absolutely no ethics involved whatsoever. The CEOs of the major arms companies positively pray for continued war and death and destruction throughout the world. Only 25 years ago a group of freedom fighters were supplied with enough arms by the US,UK and France to last 100 years. They were the Mujahadeen, fighting against the Russians in Afghanistan. Their leader was a young guy called Osama Bin Laden. When objectives change he goes from freedom fighter to terrorist, I wonder who supplies him now?? You reap what you sow! How many of our troops have been killed in Iraq by US,UK and French bullets? We provided ALL the chemical weapons to Saddam which he used to attack the Kurds.

It is unfair to simply try this one man. The solution is simple. Get all of the worlds arms dealers in to a football stadium, lock the doors and then Napalm the f*****s!

Edited August 11, 2009 by Tigs

[animatic]

Well seems the reasons NOT to let loose cannons suppy arms to anyone they choose,

as well as governments in short term misguided plans to save the world in general,

are being adequately listed here.

Selling arms to militias to destabilize nations by ANYONE is a bad idea.

If Victor Bout was selling arms to the Red shirts to start the insurection here,

this might make it seem more in your patch and even less a good idea.

Selling arms to neo-Maoist killers to start a peoples revolution typically does

NOT benefit the proletariat as theoretically stated.

Often the poor are the easiest targeted victims in these mini-wars of attrition.

Regardless if others will take up the slack, letting this guy keep going is STILL a very bad idea.

Like the; well others are corrupt, so why not forgive Thaksin, argument.

Edited August 11, 2009 by animatic

[judgedredd]

Regardless of how you feel about war, or peace, or arms sales, the issue is one man and one set of circumstances.

Viktor Bout committed no crime in Thailand.

The American DEA, however, created a “set of criminal circumstances” (i.e., an illegal sting operation.)

I would argue that for all of us, who conduct business internationally, that the Bout case is one to watch, and it is not good for Thailand.

Bangkok is a cross roads where many persons meet to discuss many types of business deals, or prospective business deals.

Bout is guilty of meeting and talking.

If Bout gets extradited to the USA, it sends a chilling message far beyond just the world of Arms Sales. Practically, it means that every International businessman, everyplace, in any business, must be well versed in every trendy and fashionable American “cause d’jour”.

So, I would ask the not-so-rhetorical question: If you plan to meet anyone, anywhere on the planet, to discuss any business deal of any kind, can you be sure that you are not somehow violating one of the USA’s extraterritorial laws?

[Robert44]

Much as I hate to agree with TAWP (by that I mean on the principles and ethics of arms dealing), I do believe he has a point. If this guy didnt sell the arms then most likely the big arms companies would have done. When it comes to the sale of arms there is absolutely no ethics involved whatsoever. The CEOs of the major arms companies positively pray for continued war and death and destruction throughout the world. Only 25 years ago a group of freedom fighters were supplied with enough arms by the US,UK and France to last 100 years. They were the Mujahadeen, fighting against the Russians in Afghanistan. Their leader was a young guy called Osama Bin Laden. When objectives change he goes from freedom fighter to terrorist, I wonder who supplies him now?? You reap what you sow! How many of our troops have been killed in Iraq by US,UK and French bullets? We provided ALL the chemical weapons to Saddam which he used to attack the Kurds.

It is unfair to simply try this one man. The solution is simple. Get all of the worlds arms dealers in to a football stadium, lock the doors and then Napalm the f*****s!

Agreed, governments have been supplying arms to whoever they think will benifit them the most all through history and are still doing it. Guiltiest parties by far being the US, Russia, UK and France. Do they care who or how many get killed, so until governments like the US stop doing it how can they turn around and point fingers at someone whose main guilt appears to be that they are a free lancer. All just the usual smoke and mirrors.

[hammered]

Much as I hate to agree with TAWP (by that I mean on the principles and ethics of arms dealing), I do believe he has a point. If this guy didnt sell the arms then most likely the big arms companies would have done. When it comes to the sale of arms there is absolutely no ethics involved whatsoever. The CEOs of the major arms companies positively pray for continued war and death and destruction throughout the world. Only 25 years ago a group of freedom fighters were supplied with enough arms by the US,UK and France to last 100 years. They were the Mujahadeen, fighting against the Russians in Afghanistan. Their leader was a young guy called Osama Bin Laden. When objectives change he goes from freedom fighter to terrorist, I wonder who supplies him now?? You reap what you sow! How many of our troops have been killed in Iraq by US,UK and French bullets? We provided ALL the chemical weapons to Saddam which he used to attack the Kurds.

It is unfair to simply try this one man. The solution is simple. Get all of the worlds arms dealers in to a football stadium, lock the doors and then Napalm the f*****s!

Agreed, governments have been supplying arms to whoever they think will benifit them the most all through history and are still doing it. Guiltiest parties by far being the US, Russia, UK and France. Do they care who or how many get killed, so until governments like the US stop doing it how can they turn around and point fingers at someone whose main guilt appears to be that they are a free lancer. All just the usual smoke and mirrors.

And when those countries want to deal arms to a country but have a few legal or ethical problems in doing it directly they have been known to use the free lancers as convenient intermediaries.

[churchill]

A court in the Thai capital Bangkok is expected to rule later on Tuesday on whether an alleged Russian arms smuggler can be extradited to the US to face trial.

Viktor Bout, a former Soviet air force officer, is accused of supplying millions of dollars worth of weapons to Colombia's FARC rebels and to countries under UN arms embargoes.

On Tuesday he was transported in shackles from his jail cell to Bangkok's main criminal court.

Speaking to reporters as he arrived at the court he said he had "no expectation" about the verdict.

Bout was arrested in March last year at a luxury hotel in Bangkok, after an elaborate sting operation in which US agents posed as arms buyers.

The US now wants to try him on charges of trying to sell large quantities of high-tech weapons, including surface-to-air missiles to the FARC rebels.

He has been indicted on four terrorism-related charges in New York and could face a maximum penalty of life in jail.

Prosecutors say Bout's long-running career in arms smuggling saw him supply weapons to conflicts in South America, the Middle East and Africa, including to former Liberian dictator Charles Taylor.

Bout has repeatedly denied the charges, claiming he ran a legitimate air cargo business and was in Bangkok at the time of his arrest to discuss selling airplanes to Thai businessmen.

http://english.aljazeera.net/news/asia-pac...1412459645.html

[TAWP]

Indeed. Of the famous things about Victor was that he supposedly shipped not only weapons, but also food and even UN material with his planes and sometimes in both directions, i.e. the planes avoided flying empty. So they might point the fingers, but he was convinient to use when they needed help.

Make no mistake, the issue is not that he deals arms. Not even to war zones. The 'mistake' was being open to any customer, even those some countries didn't like. Or reportedly, sometimes to both sides of a conflict...

Oh, Victor, if only you would had made sure to only deal with the 'nice' rogue states and not the 'evil' ones. Even if the trick is that most countries list of who is who varies...ah, the dilemma.

[photojourn]

Breaking News:

Thailand rejects US extradition request for Russian 'arms dealer'

A Thai Court today rejected a bid by the US Government to extradite alleged "Merchant of Death" Viktor Bout. The US had been seeking the extradition of Bout over the sales of weapons to groups, including to Al-Qaeda, that were used in some of the world's most violent conflicts.

Bout was arrested at the five-star Sofitel hotel after allegedly agreeing to supply surface-to-air missiles to US agents posing as guerrillas from the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC).

ENDS:

[hammered]

Interesting

[webfact]

Thai court rejects US extradition request for "Merchant of Death"

A Thai court on Tuesday rejected a request by the United States for the extradition of Viktor Bout, an alleged Russian arms dealer who is dubbed the "Merchant of Death".

The ruling came almost a year-and-a-half after Bout was arrested in a sting operation at a Bangkok hotel.

Bout, who is said to have inspired the Hollywood film "Lord of War" starring Nicolas Cage, was held on charges that he peddled weapons, including to Al-Qaeda, that were used in some of the world's most violent conflicts.

-- The Nation 2009/08/11

Edited August 11, 2009 by webfact

[Thai at Heart]

Have the Thai courts found him guilty of anything yet?

[bkkjames]

Maybe I have been watching too much Mission Improbable, but shirley, the spooks or even Jason Bond could keep this out of the courts - or at least give him an ultimatum - 'want to be bourne again?'

How about a little 'rendition' of that old song - by Jim Morrison?

[animatic]

So there is no law against arms dealing across national borders in Thailand?

Seems rather illogical.

Most countries would not condon destabilizing another country from on their soil

[baramunchies]

So he basically just did what the CIA does all the years?

He should hang for that

[Terminator]

So he can go home now???

[TAWP]

So there is no law against arms dealing across national borders in Thailand?

Seems rather illogical.

Most countries would not condon destabilizing another country from on their soil

Why on earth would there be laws against arms dealing across borders in any country?

Suggest we imprison any H&K exec that comes here on vacation? Throw away the key if anyone from Colt takes their family here? How about the CFO of Beretta?

[bangkokrick]

No extradition, so he has been held in Thailand for a year and a half for what? I feel compensation coming on.

Cheers, Rick

[cmiuc]

Regardless of the Past... Its basically a new era wherein all the World Powers are setting the examples to stop providing weapons to any country... Even China has stopped helping N.Korea... so if it starts with this man... then let it start..

As one earlier said, "if he supplied the red shirts some weapons", to add.. we would see a different story here... Its sad that Thailand wants to be known for the Gangsta 'hide outs'... Just like the the gangsta the other day... who 'was or was not' caught in Thailand...

Face it.... Thais want money, they will take the highest price 'under the table'... this case cannot be under the table for US or any other World power, so they got it coming in from some where else... maybe Mr. Bouts accountant, Lawyer,etc...

Corruption begets corruption... "Long Live 'lil TITS!"