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"Arrest and prosecute us," sanction victim appeals to UN |
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Written by Wellington Geevon Smith
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Friday, 07 March 2008 |
A Liberian UN sanction victim has called on the world body to arrest and prosecute those on the travel ban.
Chief Cyril Allen said their arrest and prosecution would either establish their guilt or innocence for whatever crimes they have been punished for.
Chief Allen told Star Radio it was unfair for the United Nations, which preaches human rights to keep them on travel ban without a benefit of a trial.
Chief Allen and several confidants of detained former President Charles Taylor have been on a UN travel ban for nearly six years.
The United Nations provided different reasons including their affiliation with Mr. Taylor, threat to national security and sub-regional peace.
Chief Allen spoke to Star Radio when reacting to news of the arrest of Viktor Bout, a Russian internationally known for arms trafficking.
Bout was accused of being one of the major arms suppliers to former President Taylor.
Reports say Viktor Bout was arrested Thursday in Thailand for allegedly seeking to buy weapons for Colombian rebels.
Bout was picked up at a Bangkok hotel after he entered Thailand on February 29.
Thai Police are said to be searching for an associate of Mr. Bout in the country.
According to Police, Bout was attempting to purchase weapons for Colombia's FARC rebels in South America.
The leftist Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia is fighting a four-decade old insurgency against the government in the capital, Bogota.
Viktor Bout, a Russian arms dealer commonly known as "Merchant of Death, secretly operated one of the largest private air fleets in the world.
He made millions flying lethal cargo to Mr. Taylor in Liberia, the FARC rebel movement in Colombia and the genocide in Rwanda.
Reports say Bout's activities were so deadly that Peter Hain, a British cabinet minister, publicly branded him "Africa's chief merchant of death."
The U.S. Treasury Department sanctioned Bout in October 2006, seizing his fleet of cargo jets and froze other assets.
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