Viktor Bout, the former Soviet intelligence officer suspected of arms trafficking on four continents, has won the first stage of his battle to avoid extradition from Thailand to the US on charges of offering to supply weapons to Colombian rebels.
Mr Bout, 42, has been in prison in Bangkok for over a year after being caught in a sting operation by US Drug Enforcement Agency officers posing as Colombian Farc rebels.
The DEA maintains that Mr Bout agreed to supply ground-to-air missiles that could have been used to target agency operatives assisting Colombia’s attempts to wipe out cocaine crops.
But on Tuesday the court found in favour of Mr Bout.
“The US charges are not applicable under Thai law,” said the judge delivering the hour-long verdict at Bangkok's Criminal Court. “This is a political case. The Farc is fighting for a political cause and is not a criminal gang. Thailand does not recognise the Farc as a terrorist group.”
The court “does not have the authority to punish actions done by foreigners against other foreigners in another country”, the judge said.
The prosecution has 72 hours to appeal against the verdict. If an appeal is not lodged, Mr Bout will be released.
“We are disappointed and mystified by this lower court ruling,” said James Entwistle, the US deputy ambassador to Thailand, adding that the extradition request was “clearly” supported by Thai law.
A spokesman for Russia’s foreign ministry said on Tuesday that Russia was ”satisfied by the decision and we hope that Viktor Bout will return to his homeland in the near future.”
Moscow has lobbied for Mr Bout to be returned to Russia, where he had lived freely in spite of an international warrant for his arrest. Western analysts suspect he has close ties to Russia’s military and intelligence forces.
Mr Bout has admitted carrying air shipments for the Russian state.
Last month, Sergei Lavrov, Russian foreign minister, asked the authorities in Bangkok to make sure the hearings were held “impartially, without politicisation”. Russia sold cheap oil to Thailand last year and is in talks to sell fighter jets.
Michael Braun, former director of operations for the DEA who oversaw the operation against Mr Bout, told the Financial Times on Tuesday that he had received “a great deal of information over the past few months that attempts were under way by Russia to buy Bout’s way out”.
Mr Braun, now a security consultant, added: “The last thing they wanted was for him to be on US soil where he could open up.”
The Kremlin said the Russian government had “absolutely nothing to do with the Bout case”. People close to Mr Bout have accused US officials of trying to bribe Thai officials.
After the break-up of the Soviet Union, Mr Bout used his contacts and the country’s huge surplus of aircraft and crew to start an air transport company. His detractors allege that he also became one of the world’s most prolific arms dealers, sending weapons to fuel conflicts across Africa and the Middle East.
Mr Bout, who was allegedly the basis for the character played by Nicholas Cage in the film Lord of War, has consistently denied that he was an arms dealer.
“I never supplied arms and especially never had any deal with al-Qaeda,” Mr Bout told British television in a prison interview this year.
