Colombia has filed an official extradition request for Israeli mercenary Yair Klein, who was found guilty of training paramilitaries and drug cartels, according to a press release on the presidential website.
The Colombian ambassador to Israel officially filed the request, while the Colombian Minister of Interior and Justice German Vargas Lleras met with the Israeli ambassador in Colombia to discuss the details of the conviction and the request.
Klein is required by Colombian courts “to complete the penalty of ten years and eight months that was imposed on him for being responsible for crimes of instruction and training in tactics and techniques … to be completed by mercenaries, and conspiracy,” states the press release.
The Israeli, who has been convicted by Colombian courts of training paramilitaries and drug gangs in Colombia, claims that he was in fact paid by the Colombian military to train “security forces.”
He was released from Russian custody in 2010, where he was forced to serve a three-year jail term but escaped extradition to Colombia. Klein is now free in his native country.