'Yair Klein risked his life saving us – now we must now save him' was the battle cry sounded by dozens of reservist paratroopers as they rallied outside the Foreign Affairs Ministry in Jerusalem on Sunday morning to protest the extradition of Lt. Col. (res) Yair Klein, who is currently being detained in Moscow, to Colombia.
Klein was convicted of training the private army of infamous drug lord Pablo Escobar. In particular, Klein was accused of teaching the militia troops how to carry out high-profile killings such as the 1989 assassination of anti-cartel presidential candidate Luis Carlos Galán.
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| Colombia seeks extradition of Israeli mercenary captured in Russia / Associated Press |
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Former Lt. Col. arrested by Interpol in Moscow convicted by Colombian court in absentia for training Pablo Escobar's private army |
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He was convicted and sentenced in-absentia to a 10-year prison term in 2001 by a Colombian court. Since that time, the Colombian police have launched a manhunt for the fugitive 61-year-old, who in 2007 made Interpol's list of wanted criminal.
Last August, Klein was finally spotted and arrested at a Moscow airport by Russian authorities.
The Russian Supreme Court will assemble on Wednesday to discuss the appeal filed by Attorney Mordechai Tzivin regarding Colombia's request for Klein’s extradition.
With the court date looming, Klein’s colleagues from his military service decided to launch their campaign to convince the Foreign Ministry to rescind the extradition. In a letter sent to Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni,
Klein’s friends protest the "abandonment" of a fellow soldier in the battlefield.
“We all know that turning him over to Colombia means a death sentence for Yair Klein,” Yoel Sharon, a disabled IDF veteran and Klein’s subordinate in the Yom Kippur War told Ynet. “We mustn’t abandon a warrior who saved the lives of dozens of Israeli soldiers... the power to save him from the noose is in our hands.”
Amnon Schwartz, a paratrooper whose life Klein saved in the Suez Canal, believes his ex-commander is an innocent man who is being falsely accused: “Yair is being charged with immoral crimes, yet I there is no one in the world who shares the moral values Yair has, at least no one I know.
“Israel
must take care of him because he is one of the country’s best men. Yair has never abandoned a fellow soldier in the battlefield. Time after time, he would enter Suez under heavy fire to rescue about 60 soldiers. Now it’s his turn under the fire and the country is ready to abandon him?"
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