Prosecutor’s Office, Alleged Chechen Militants’ Lawyers Appeal Supreme Court

(Tbilisi. March 22, 2003. Civil Georgia) – The General Prosecutor’s Office appealed the Supreme Court on March 21 demanding cancellation of district court ruling to suspend extradition of one alleged Chechen militant.

The Mtatsminda-Krtsanisi District Court of the capital city ruled on March 13 that two of the three alleged Chechen militants should be handed over to the Russian side, while extraditing the third one was ruled illegal.

The court decided on March 13 that request for extraditing Husein Alkhanov is groundless, as he has the refugee status and cannot be handed over to Russia under the Georgian law, while the judge has satisfied request for extradition of the other two detainees Rustam Elkhajiev and Ruslan Gelogaev to Russia.

The lawyers of Rustam Elkhajiev and Ruslan Gelogaev appealed the Supreme Court on March 21 as well. They demand to suspend extradition of two alleged Chechen militants.

“The court can not decide to extradite a person to a country, which practices the death penalty. Russia still has such laws,” Malkhaz Pataraia, one of the defence lawyers, told Civil Georgia. 

Three persons from Chechnya were in the group of 13 armed men, detained by the Georgian border guards last August for illegal crossing of the border. Georgia has already extradited five of them to Moscow, fulfilling Russia’s demand for extradition.

Russia demands the prompt hand over of the alleged Chechen militants and has accused Georgia of delaying extradition using legal means.

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