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BANGKOK - ALLEGED Russian arms dealer Viktor Bout appeared in a Thai court on Friday for extradition hearings that could send him to the United States to face terrorism charges.
Thailand's criminal court must decide whether there is enough evidence to extradite the man dubbed the 'Merchant of Death' to the United States, where he could face life in prison.
Bout, arrested in Bangkok in March after a sting operation conducted by US agents and Thai police, entered the courtroom Friday in leg shackles and an orange prison-issue outfit.
He looked on as his lawyers cross-examined a witness from Thailand's interior ministry about the legality of his detention and extradition.
'This afternoon, we will continue to question witnesses to prove that Mr Bout is illegally detained,' Thai defence lawyer Chamroen Panompakakorn said.
During an undercover operation, Bout allegedly agreed to supply surface-to-air missiles to US anti-drug agents posing as rebels from Colombia's Marxist FARC group, which Washington considers a terrorist organisation.
He has also been charged with conspiracy to kill US officers or employees and conspiracy to acquire and use an anti-aircraft missile.
Bout has been held at a maximum-security prison outside Bangkok since his arrest on March 6. The former Soviet air force officer has denied the charges against him.
He is accused of being a global gun-runner since the 1990s, and is believed to have supplied arms to the Taliban militia, Osama bin Laden's Al-Qaeda terror network and former Liberian leader Charles Taylor.
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