Following 7 months of the court procedures, the Appeals Chamber of the Supreme Court of Georgia ruled to decline extradition of the three Chechens to the Russian Federation.
The ruling applies to the three remaining persons out of 13 who were detained for illegal crossing of the Georgian border in August 2002. The fate of the detained Chechens remained in the focus of the national media and human rights groups after five of them were extradited to Russia on October 2002. The human rights groups have claimed the extradition was done in violation of the court procedures, while the defense lawyers have appealed to the European Court of Human Rights.
Regarding the last three detainees, the Supreme Court has upheld the decision of the Mtatsminda-Krtsanisi District Court of March 13 regarding one of them – Hussain Alkhanov – denying his extradition. A case of Ruslan Gelogaev has been suspended till June 5, to determine whether he holds a valid refugee status. The court also decided that the third detainee’s personality was not established properly. The evidence was submitted according to which the court identified the person known earlier as Elkhajiev, to be Mulkoev.
The ruling has satisfied the defense side. “Justice was upheld” Maka Dzamukashvili, attorney of the Chechens told Civil Georgia. Representatives of the Prosecutor General did not comment the court’s decision.
Decision of the Supreme Court was preceded by the long trial at the Mtatsminda-Krtsanisi district court. The district court ruled on March 13 that Alkhanov should be kept in Georgia, since he has the refugee status, while Gelogaev and Elkhajanov were subjected to extradition to Russia.
Both defense and prosecution have appealed the decision. The Prosecutor-General’s office requested Alkhanov’s extradition, claiming that his refugee identification documents were falsified. The defense appealed to ask for suspending the extradition ruling both for Elkhajiev and Gelogaev.
Defense lawyers appealed the Supreme Court to determine the status of Gelogaev’s asylum application. As lawyers say and the Ministry for Refugees and Accomodation confirms, Gelogaev was indeed granted the refugee status two years ago. But, the Ministry argues, this status was revoked automatically, as Gelogaev did no re-register after one year. Defense claims the ministry has no legal mechanism for cancellation of the status of the refugee based on failure to re-register.
In Elkhajiev’s case, only at the Supreme Court the attorneys said the defendant has misled them regarding his true identity. “We have his passport, birth certificate and confirmation of his neighbors [that the real name of Elkhajiev is Mulkoev]. He was concealing his true name, fearing that the Prosecutor-General’s office would [ask the Russian authorities to re-]submit some documents and extradite him to Russia” – lawyer Lia Mukhashavria stated that the court process.
Prosecutor Paata Mskhiladze protested claiming that the defendant has purposefully tried to mislead the court. The prosecutors have presented a document signed by the Russian vice-consul, which says that a passport to the person, named Mulkoev was never issued by the Russian authorities.
The court instructed the prosecutors to reinvestigate the case. This decision of the court is final and is not a subject to appealing.
Nevertheless, the three Chechens will not be released and will be prosecuted in Georgia for illegal crossing of the border and carrying firearms. However, lawyer Malkhaz Pataraia believes that these charges are completely fabricated.
Russia has already protested the Supreme Court ruling. Representative of the Russian Foreign Ministry Alexander Iakovenko made an official statement on May 17, saying that the decision was unjustified. He said the Russian Federation would continue to seek extradition of these persons.
Tea Gularidze, Civil Georgia