The American chef at the centre of an alleged IRA raid on Special Branch offices at Castlereagh last night (Friday) challenged the Director of Public Prosecutions to extradite him or drop the case.
More than a year after the PSNI publicly linked Larry Zaitschek with the St Patrick's Day raid, the DPP says that a decision on whether he will be extradited back to the north is still being considered.
At the time of the break-in, the then chief constable Sir Ronnie Flanagan initially refused to rule out that rogue elements within the intelligence community were involved.
A fortnight later police arrested six people, including a number of high-profile republicans.
Police initially claimed their efforts to interview Larry Zaitschek had been stymied when he returned to America days after the raid.
While police let it be known that Mr Zaitschek was one of the main suspects in their investigations, it later emerged that he had voluntarily been questioned by detectives on two occasions before leaving for America.
The chef also agreed to be interviewed for a third time by PSNI investigators in his native New York.
In June last year the then assistant chief constable Alan McQuillan defended the moves to extradite Mr Zaitschek claiming that "detailed evidence" existed to support Mr Zaitschek being returned to Northern Ireland.
By the end of last summer it was announced that Mr Zaitschek's estranged wife Lisa and their four-year-old son were in protective custody.
Since then police have refused Mr Zaitschek any contact with his son claiming that the four-year old could inadvertently give away the location of their safe house while speaking to his father on the telephone.
But with a legal bid to gain telephone contact with his son due to be held in Belfast within weeks, Mr Zaitschek last night called upon the DPP to either extradite him or admit that he has no case to answer.
"My name has been dragged through the mud for the last year and I have been stopped from even talking to my son on the telephone," he said.
"I would come back to Northern Ireland to fight for contact with my son but I don't have any confidence that I would get a fair trial.
"The people in the intelligence services who used me as a scapegoat for Castlereagh are still in place in Northern Ireland and can do what they want to a person."
Mr Zaitschek's solicitor Joe Rice said that the DPP's continued delay was causing unnecessary distress to his client.
"I think it is surprising that the DPP has taken no decision given the fact that well over a year has passed since the commission of the alleged offence which my client was publicly linked with.
"Given the fact that there is supposed to be presumption of innocence before charging in this jurisdiction, I find it alarming that senior policemen saw fit to make adverse comments about my client's character last summer.
"Given these very public comments which linked my client to the alleged offence it is surprising that no decision taken to extradite him has been taken.
"My client is anxious to have his name cleared and the DPP's continued delay in making a decision is obstructing him from being able to do this."
