BANGKOK – Thailand has extradited suspected Russian arms dealer Viktor Bout to the United States to face terrorism charges, ending a two-year dispute.
Mr Bout (43), a former Soviet air force officer, was yesterday flown out of Bangkok shortly after prime minister Abhisit Vejjajiva and his cabinet cleared the extradition. Mr Bout had been fighting extradition since his March 2008 arrest in Bangkok in a US-led sting operation.
In a surprise move, the Thai cabinet acknowledged the US request, clearing the last hurdle for Mr Bout’s departure.
Russia said Thailand’s extradition of Mr Bout to the US was illegal. “It is deeply regrettable that the Thai authorities have yielded to political pressure . . . and carried out this illegal extradition of VA Bout,” Russia’s foreign ministry said.
A US embassy spokesman declined to comment on the case.
Mr Bout faces US accusations of trafficking arms since the 1990s to dictators and conflict zones in Africa, South America and the Middle East.
He was taken from prison in a speeding van escorted by several security vehicles.
Despite the court clearing the way for Mr Bout’s extradition, the executive branch could have blocked it if it had been deemed detrimental to foreign relations or harmful to individuals involved.
Mr Vejjajiva said he did not think relations with Russia would worsen, adding that Thailand had been in touch with both countries to explain the legal process.
“Our job was to decide and do what was right. It’s not possible to please everyone,” Mr Abhisit said. “The cabinet decision was based on the court ruling that the case was not political and that there was no reason not to extradite him.”
Mr Bout’s lawyer said he had been informed his client had been sent to the US and he would continue to fight the case. The cabinet’s decision was a violation of “due process” as a request for a retrial for his client was pending, he added.
Mr Bout, who has long evaded UN and US sanctions aimed at blocking his finances and restricting his travel, had called the charges against him an “American fantasy”, insisting he was an innocent businessman.
Mr Bout, an inspiration for the Hollywood movie Lord of War, starring Nicolas Cage, had been held in prison since his arrest at a luxury Bangkok hotel in a joint US-Thai sting operation, in which agents posed as arms buyers for the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia.
The US classifies the Colombian group as a terrorist organisation. – (Reuters)