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Monday March 17, 3:37 PMOfficials tried to force arms dealer Bout to US: lawyer
Yan Dasgupta, one of three Russian lawyers representing Bout, said that after Bout's arrest on March 6 at a five-star Bangkok hotel, US and Thai officials tried to verbally and physically force him onto a plane. "Some 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," Dasgupta said. "He was doing everything in his power including physical resistance not to fly to the US," he told reporters in Bangkok. Bout's arrest was the culmination of an elaborate 12-month sting operation by US drug enforcement agents posing as Marxist Colombian rebels seeking a cache of weapons. Dasgupta said Thai officials led efforts to force Bout to leave, while US agents were present and tried to interview the 41-year-old, who is wanted in the United States on charges of trying to supply weapons to terrorists. A spokesman from the US embassy in Bangkok said he was not aware of any allegations of physical coercion after Bout's arrest, and said only that the United States had begun the formal process to extradite the Russian. Thai officials are also scrambling to compile enough evidence to try him in the kingdom. Dasgupta said that Bout -- who has been dubbed the "Merchant of Death" for allegedly funneling weapons to some of the world's bloodiest conflicts -- is an innocent man who ran a business servicing aircraft. "He is considered to be a very law-obedient, good Russian businessman," Dasgupta said. The Russian's current period of detention expires on Wednesday, although Thailand can then extend his imprisonment without charge six times, holding him for a total of 84 days from the day of his arrest. "We plan to submit a petition on the 19th... to ask the court not to detain him further," said Lak Nitiwatvichan, Bout's Thai lawyer. Mystery still surrounds the arrest of Bout's co-defendant Andrew Smulian, who appeared in a New York court last week on charges of conspiracy to provide material support or resources to a foreign terrorist organisation. Dasgupta confirmed Monday that Smulian had been present in Bangkok at the time of Bout's arrest. "We don't really understand what happened to Mr Smulian," he said. "It is quite interesting and surprising and strengthens my argument on (Bout) being forcibly sent to the United States." Over the years, former Soviet air force officer Bout is said to have supplied arms to Taliban militia, Osama bin Laden's Al-Qaeda terror network, rebels in South America and former Liberian leader Charles Taylor. |
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