U.S. Accusations against Russian Arms Trader
The United States has announced its official accusations against Viktor Bout, the Russian citizen arrested in Thailand at the request of the U.S. He is incriminated in providing surface-to-air ballistic missiles to the Colombian terrorist organization FARC, conspiring to kill American citizens, including officers, and providing material aid to terrorist organizations. U.S. extradition documents are to arrive in Thailand in the next few days.
The investigation of Bout began in November 2007, when a U.S. secret agent posing as a FARC leader entered into negotiations with Bout’s partner Andrey Smulyan, and then with Bout. Those negotiations took place in Romania, Denmark and Curacao and were recorded by authorities in those countries. In Romania, Smulyan informed the buyer that Bout could provide 100 surface-to-air ballistic missiles, helicopters, antimissile weapons parachuted into Colombia for $5 million. The buyer insisted on a personal meeting with Bout, which was to take place in Thailand, where Bout was arrested March 6. Bout is not admitting guilt.
According to American authorities, Bout has been trading arms since the 1990s, delivering them in his own aircraft to Africa, South America and the Middle East. He was added to the list of individuals American citizens are forbidden to do business with after supplying arms to Liberia in 2004. The U.S. government froze his assets the next year. Bout is now in a Bangkok prison. His lawyer Yan Dasgupta told Kommersant that no official documents have been received from the U.S. yet. Thai officials have said that they will not press charges against Bout, but the U.S. has insisted that he be held until June 6 awaiting extradition paper. If found guilty of the charges in the U.S., Bout faces life imprisonment.
www.kommersant.com
All the Article in Russian as of May 08, 2008
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