Thai parliamentary opposition tried to accuse the ruling coalition of using the high-profile extradition case against alleged Russian arms dealer Viktor Bout to fabricate terrorism charges against an opposition leader.
Long-standing tensions between the opposition, known as red shirts, and pro-government political forces led to a series of violent protests in the capital Bangkok this spring, in which dozens were killed and hundreds injured.
A red shirt leader Jatuporn Promphan said Sirichoke Sopha, a prominent member of the ruling Democrat Party and close aide to Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva tried to persuade Bout to give false testimony allowing to lay arms smuggling and terrorism charges against opposition leader Thaksin Shinawatra.
The speech was broadcast live by the government-owned channel, as the session was intially devoted to the 2011 Budget Bill.
"Lawmaker Sopha visited Bout in April in a pre-trial detention facility... During the meeting... he tried to persuade Bout to testify that the Il-76 plane with an illegal cargo of arms from North Korea was financed by former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra, who bought the weapons for his allies, the red shirts," Promphan said during a parliamentary session on Tuesday.
The visit took place in mid-April, several days after the first violent clash between the government troops and protestors on April 10. Then the Thai emergencies authority announced that there were 500 "terrorists" among the red shirts.
"Viktor Bout rejected Sopha's proposal, that is why his extradition to the U.S. is being prepared now," the opposition lawmaker added.
"I demand an open news conference of Viktor Bout, where lawmakers and journalists could ask him about what really happened during lawmaker Sopha's visit," Promphan said.
Bout's Thai lawyer, Lak Nitivat, confirmed in a TV interview that the visit took place, but said the purpose of Sopha's visit was only to find out why the U.S. have been pressing so hard for his extradition.
By the end of the parliamentary session Sopha finally admitted that he visited Bout but said he was trying to find out whether the Russian had ties with the Georgian-registered Il-76 plane which carried some 15 tons of weaponry. The aircraft, with a crew of Russians and Belarusians, was seized during a refueling stop at Bangkok's Don Muang airport on December 12, 2009.
Bout, who had been in Thai custody for almost two years when the plane was seized, repeatedly stated that he had nothing to do with the plane.
Sopha said in an interview with Thai media that he suspected Bout of being related to the seized plane.
"Moreover, this plane landed in Bangkok while en route to Sri-Lanka, where [opposition leader] Thaksin Shinawatra was staying at the moment," he told the national Channel 7.
Premier Vejjajiva said he knew nothing about his key ally's talks with Bout.
In May, Vejjajiva dismissed reports of Sri Lankan media about his major political opponent Shinawatra's ties with arms traffickers.
"We thoroughly checked these reports and came to the conclusion that there was no link. The former premier had no ties with that plane," the prime minister said in May.
BANGKOK, August 26 (RIA Novosti)
