Oswald in the doorway: the blog of the Oswald Innocence Campaign, by Ralph Cinque

It occurred to me that there might be more to this story of Viktor Bout than meets the eye. That's because if Viktor Bout really was an arms dealer, providing weapons to terrorists, why would Putin want to help him? I get it that Putin is very much disliked, but what evidence is there that Putin has ever wanted to provide weapons to terrorists? 

So, I started searching, and I found a cached copy of Viktor's website. He claims that he has never been an arms merchant, that it was a private fleet of airplanes but nothing to do with arms. He said he was railroaded by this one man, a Belgian, Johan Peleman, who was paid. He said that at the time of his arrest, that no arrest warrant existed for him anywhere in the world. He said the U.S. government issued one 4 days after he was extradited to the US. He denies ever having been involved in drug trafficking. 

He said that, at first, the Thai government refused to turn him over to the U.S. for lack of evidence. But then, the U.S. got the government of Columbia to implore the Thai government to turn him over. But, all this happened without there being any existing arrest warrants for him anywhere in the world. Here is the link to a cached copy of his website. There's a lot to it, but it makes for some interesting reading.

https://web.archive.org/web/20090930183529/http://www.victorbout.com/index.htm

Frequently Asked Questions

For the last 10 years the media reported too many allegations against Victor Bout for being the largest arms dealer in the world, what do you say to that? Victor Bout is reported to be the largest arms dealer in the world for more than 10 years now; however, nobody during all of these years was able to show evidence to support this allegation or to bring charges against Victor.

 

But isn't it true that the American government has charged Victor Bout for alleged conspiracy to sell arms to Colombian rebels? It is true that the Bush administration brought charges against Victor for an alleged conspiracy to sell arms; however, the US government has failed to substantiate these allegations in Thai court, and therefore, failed to have Victor Bout extradited to the US.

 

The American government stated that Victor made a deal through Andrew Smulian with undercover DEA agents whom are referred to as CS1, CS2, and CS3. Is that true? No that is not true. All the people the US government is relying upon are "Paid Informants" as stated in the official US government complaint pages 3-5. See documents page.

 

Isn't it true that Johan Peleman, the UN expert on arms trafficking stated in his report to the UN Security Council that Victor indeed is an arms trafficker, and provided charts and copies of evidentiary documents in each of the reports he submitted to the United Nations? Johan Peleman made  hundreds of allegations against Victor Bout in his reports to the UN; however, neither his allegations were proven to be true, nor his alleged evidence were genuine. All the material presented in the UN reports was reinvestigated and proven false, and that is why it was never used to bring charges against Victor.

 

Was Victor on any "wanted" list, or was there any outstanding warrant of arrest issued for him prior to March 2008? No, Victor was not wanted by any entity anywhere in the world, nor was there any outstanding warrant of arrest for him prior to March 2008.

 

Is it true that Victor's arrest in Thailand is being challenged for being illegal because the Americans acted without the knowledge or authorization of  Thai authorities? Yes, this is true. Victor was arrested without a warrant or any legal grounds. The US warrant against him was issued 4 days after his arrest. The American agents acted without the knowledge or authorization of Thai authorities. Thai police was called into the scene by the hotel management, and they arrived and took control of the situation as the American agents were trying to kidnap Victor Bout to the US.

 

The media report that Victor had a warrant of arrest against him prior to March 2008, is that true? No, that is false. A warrant that was issued once for Victor by a Belgian court for failing to appear before the judge to testify was cancelled and dropped by the same court because the allegations against Victor were groundless.

 

Was Victor Bout a Major in the KGB? No, Victor served as a Lieutenant in the army of the Soviet Union as a translator.