| Russia's "Merchant of Death" Freed in Thailand |
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| Written by Our Correspondent | |
| Tuesday, 11 August 2009 | |
 Gunrunner Viktor Bout escapes extradition to the US A Thai court Tuesday rejected a request by US officials for the extradition of Russian arms dealer Viktor Bout, who was arrested a year and a half ago in a sting operation by Thai police and US officials posing as Colombian guerrillas seeking to buy surface-to-air missiles. The ruling is a major setback for the United States, which had been pursuing the former Soviet Air Force pilot for years and, observers say, could complicate relations between the United States and Thailand. The judge, in an earlier interview with The Nation of Bangkok, joked that if he ruled against the Americans, he might never get another visa to visit the US. "We are disappointed and mystified by the court's ruling,” James Entwistle, the deputy chief of mission at the US Embassy in Bangkok, told reporters. “We think the facts of the case are relevant to Thai laws." Bout faces life in prison in the US if the US government reels him in. The US has 72 hours to appeal the Thai court’s ruling. If an appeal is filed, which appears almost certain, the Russian will be held pending further proceedings. If the US doesn’t file, Bout, who has repeatedly denied wrongdoing, will be set free. Following his arrest the Russian embassy hired Thai lawyer Lak Nitiwatvichan, who told reporters, “He was a military man. He has done nothing wrong.” Well, he probably has. The fact is that Viktor Bout is probably nothing more than the poster child for a vast global arms industry that makes his operations, controversial as they may be, seem puny. The bigger question is where he got the arms to peddle across the world, and from whom. Kalashnikovs and M16s are not a cottage industry, let alone 175 mm howitzers and Stinger missiles, or the ability to broker them to shady governments. Bout’s notoriety may well have stemmed from the fact that he was a freelancer in a field of commerce dominated by the world’s superpowers, including the United States, Russia and Germany, who peddle weapons out front as a matter of national policy. The US remains by far the world’s largest exporter, selling US$7.45 billion worth of guns to combatants around the globe in 2007, followed by Russia, with US$4.5 billion and Germany at US$3.39 billion. France, Ukraine, Netherlands and the United Kingdom are other major sellers. Critics have pointed out that the Reagan administration delivered similar surface-to-air missiles through channels to Afghani mujahedeen guerrillas in the 1970s -- pretty much like the ones Bout was seeking to sell to FARC --in an effort to bring down the Russian regime there. Singapore and Israel have served as major conduits for weapons sales for decades. Often, the critics charge, the superpowers have used gunrunners like Bout to put a layer of deniability between themselves and their clients.Nonetheless, Bout, 42, allegedly sold weapons to anybody willing to put up the money, including Al Qaeda and other Islamic extremists, US officials charged. Dubbed the “merchant of death,” Bout was said to have supplied weapons to some of the world’s most violent conflicts. He was said to be willing to fly anything anywhere, including occasionally United Nations food supplies, to keep his airplanes from moving around empty. Amnesty International has alleged that at one time he operated a fleet of more than 50 planes ferrying weapons around Africa. It is worth asking if he was serving the interests of national governments who preferred not to know his name. According to some reports, he will not be welcome if he shows up again in Russia. The subject of a book by Douglas Farah and Stephen Braun, Bout was said to be a “weapons supplier whose… vast enterprise of guns, planes and money has fueled internecine slaughter in Africa and aided both militant Islamic fanatics in Afghanistan and the American military in Iraq.” He reportedly inspired the Hollywood film “Lord of War,” which starred Nicolas Cage. He has been held in a maximum security prison outside Bangkok since his arrest. He was nailed in an elaborate sting involving not only the Royal Thai Police and the US Drug Enforcement Agency, but also agencies from Romania, the Netherlands Antilles and Denmark. Earlier, Bout’s wife, who said she is a fashion designer, told the extradition hearing in Bangkok that Bout had become “a pawn in a chess game’ between the United States and Russia. He had only traveled to South America for “tango lessons,” she said, and not to attempt to sell arms to Colombian rebels. In an extremely sympathetic interview last week with the Russian RIA Novosti news network, Bout said his case had been fabricated by the US government. "There are no real grounds for extradition because there is no evidence of my guilt. I have not committed any crime and all the American accusations against me are mere conjecture," Bout told Novosti. "The judges know and realize this - it was repeatedly said during the trial. That is why it is all clear to me - if the court is given the opportunity to pronounce a fair verdict, I will return home." At the end of the extradition hearing on Tuesday, he delivered the universal hand sign for victory. Comments
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