Human rights groups slam death squad suspect release

[Judi Lynn]

Source: Morning Star

Human rights groups slam death squad suspect release
Sunday 21 November 2010

An Israeli citizen wanted in Colombia for training right-wing death squads arrived in Ben Gurion airport on Saturday after being released from a Moscow jail.

His arrival disappointed activists and victims who have tried for years to bring him to justice.

Yair Klein is accused of training paramilitary groups in the 1980s that stole land and murdered hundreds of Colombians during a decade-long reign of terror across the countryside.

Human rights activists are pleading with Israel to open an investigation into Mr Klein's actions during that period.

Read more: http://www.morningstaronline.co.uk/index.php/news/content/view/full/97884

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http://img.europapress.net.nyud.net:8090/fotoweb/fotonoticia_20101119224521_470.jpg http://www.nuevoarcoiris.org.co.nyud.net:8090/sac/imagenes/yair_klein.jpg

Yair Klein

Wikipedia:

Yair Klein (Hebrew: יאיר קליין‎; also known as Jair Klein) is an Israeli and a former lieutenant colonel in the Israeli army, who established a private mercenary company called Spearhead Ltd.

Through Spearhead Ltd, Klein provided arms and training to armed forces in South America, Lebanon, and Sierra Leone.<1><2>

Klein and his company have been accused of training the death-squads of drug traffickers and right-wing militias in Colombia in the 1980s.<3>

Klein was convicted by judicial authorities in Colombia for training several members of Colombian paramilitary groups and the militias of drug traffickers such as Gonzalo Rodríguez Gacha and Pablo Escobar Gaviria in 1987.

Klein was convicted in 2001 by a Colombian court, and the Colombian government made unsuccessful attempts to obtain his extradition from Israel. In a 2007 interview with Caracol TV, Klein claimed that he was sent to Colombia by request of the National Police in order to train its members, and stated that he was willing to go back and help destroy the FARC guerrillas.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yair_Klein

[Judi Lynn]

1. Yair Klein threatens to blow whistle on Colombian gov't

Yair Klein threatens to blow whistle on Colombian gov't
By DAN IZENBERG
11/21/2010 20:40


"What I have on these officials is fantastic," Klein says; Justice Ministry says it does not plan to take any action in former IDF officer's case.

A Justice Ministry spokesman said Sunday that the ministry does not anticipate having to take any action in the case of former IDF Lt.-Col. Yair Klein, who returned from Russia over the weekend after more than three years in prison.

In 2001, Klein was tried in absentia by the Supreme Tribunal of the Manzales district of Colombia and sentenced to 10 years and eight months in prison on charges of training illegal paramilitary groups. The Colombian government issued a warrant for his arrest with Interpol, and he was detained during a visit to Russia in August 2007.

http://www.jpost.com/Israel/Article.aspx?id=196194

[EFerrari]

2. I wonder what his release cost and who paid for it. n/t

[leveymg]

3. Like Blackwater, he wasn't doing anything his gov't didn't want him to do.

Just another well-paid paramilitary operative in a very dirty little war.

I guess my question is, what did the Israelis trade Moscow for his release, and what was he doing in Russia?