Tuesday, 02 March 2004

U.S. PROBE AL-QAEDA TIES OF RUSSIAN IN GUANTANAMO

Published in News Digest

By empty (3/2/2004 issue of the CACI Analyst)

The extradition decision on the eighth Russian held at the U.S. Guantanamo naval base will be made after an investigation by the country\'s special services.
The extradition decision on the eighth Russian held at the U.S. Guantanamo naval base will be made after an investigation by the country\'s special services. \"The American side has offered the explanation that the suspected ties of this person with international terrorists are being investigated,\" Deputy Prosecutor General Sergei Fridinsky told Interfax on Tuesday. He quoted the U.S. as saying that the eighth Russian national was seized in Afghanistan together with al-Qaeda fighters. Seven of eight Russians fighting for the Taliban in Afghanistan were extradited to Russia last weekend. Fridinsky said the seven former Guantanamo inmates have been taken to different detention facilities in Stavropol territory. \"They are being charged, under three articles of the Russian Criminal Code, with illegal border crossing, acting as mercenaries and participating in a criminal community. However, the charges may be changed after the completion of the investigation,\" he said. Officials from the Prosecutor General\'s Office visited Guantanamo at the beginning of 2002, and identified the Russian nationals held there. Official requests for their extradition were later filed. One more official traveled to the base this year. The names of the Russian Guantanamo inmates are Shamil Khazhiyev and Ravil Gumarov from Bashkortostan, Rasul Kudayev and Ruslan Odigov from Kabardino-Balkaria, Ravil Mingazov and Airat Vakhitov from Tatarstan, Rustam Akhmerov from Chelyabinsk and Timur Ishmuradov from Tyumen region. The Prosecutor General\'s Office says that all of them were recruited by radical Islamic organizations and taken to Afghanistan, where they fought for the Taliban. (Interfax)
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The Central Asia-Caucasus Analyst is a biweekly publication of the Central Asia-Caucasus Institute & Silk Road Studies Program, a Joint Transatlantic Research and Policy Center affiliated with the American Foreign Policy Council, Washington DC., and the Institute for Security and Development Policy, Stockholm. For 15 years, the Analyst has brought cutting edge analysis of the region geared toward a practitioner audience.

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