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Alleged Russian arms dealer tells Thai court he was framed
AFP - 2 hours 7 minutes ago
BANGKOK (AFP) - - An alleged Russian arms dealer dubbed the "Merchant of Death" told a Thai court Monday that he had been framed and should not be extradited to the United States.
Viktor Bout, who is accused of funnelling arms to some of the world's most violent conflicts, denied he had been to Colombia to supply the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) guerrilla movement.
"I was framed," the 41-year-old Bout told the court, wearing a dark orange prison jumpsuit and with shackles on his feet. "I have done no crime, I have done no terrorist act."
Bout, arrested in Bangkok on March 6 after a sting operation conducted by US agents and Thai police, faces life in prison if sent to the United States and convicted there on terrorism charges.
The former Soviet air force officer questioned in court why the United States had not previously sent arrest warrants to Russia if it wanted to prosecute him.
"They have framed me because the US does not want relations between Thailand and Russia to develop more," he said.
Asked by his lawyer if he had sold arms to FARC, a leftist movement which has waged a four-decade battle against the Colombian government, he denied involvement.
"It's not true. I have never met anyone from FARC, I have never been to Colombia," he said.
Bout has been held at a maximum-security prison outside Bangkok since his arrest.
Bout is accused of being a global gun-runner since the 1990s. He is believed to have supplied arms to the Taliban militia, Osama bin Laden's Al-Qaeda terror network and former Liberian leader Charles Taylor.
The nickname "Merchant of Death" was coined by a former British foreign office minister and also used for a 2007 book on Bout's alleged activities.
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