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Russian arms dealer testifies in Thai court extradition hearings

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A Thai court heard testimony from Russian arms dealer Viktor Bout on Monday, and hearings will continue on Tuesday and Wednesday, a Russian Embassy official said.
MOSCOW, December 22 (RIA Novosti) - A Thai court heard testimony from Russian arms dealer Viktor Bout on Monday, and hearings will continue on Tuesday and Wednesday, a Russian Embassy official said.

Bout, 41, testified in Bangkok's Criminal Court against his extradition to the United States, where he is accused of conspiracy to sell arms to Colombian left-wing rebels.

"The next hearing in the trial of Viktor Bout will take place on Tuesday, and the court will hold one more session on Wednesday," Andrei Dvornikov said, adding those would be the last hearings in the case this year.

Dvornikov said Bout had continued to deny any links to the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), listed by the U.S. as a terrorist organization, saying that no convincing evidence had been offered against him during the hearings.

"I didn't do anything wrong in Thailand. I have never been to Colombia or the United States," Bout told the court.

Bout was arrested in Bangkok in March during a sting operation led by U.S. agents. The United States accuses Bout of conspiring with others to sell millions of dollars worth of weapons to FARC.

The former officer in the Russian army faces a life sentence if tried in a U.S. court, while Thai authorities earlier announced that they would not press charges against Bout.

Western law enforcement agencies consider Bout to be "the most prominent foreign businessman" involved in trafficking arms to UN-embargoed destinations, including the Democratic Republic of Congo and Angola.

UN reports say Bout set up a network of more than 50 cargo aircraft around the world to facilitate his arms shipments, earning the nickname "merchant of death."

In an interview published in a Russian newspaper in October, Bout said Washington fabricated charges against him after he had refused to work as an informant.

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