English solicitor assists arrested Chechen minister

ZAKAYEV: fighting extradition after Moscow theatre siege

An English solicitor is helping to represent the deputy prime minister of Chechnya, who is facing extradition to Russia on suspicion of being the mastermind behind last month's Moscow theatre siege.

Akhmed Zakayev was arrested in Copenhagen two weeks ago by the Danish authorities on Russia's request, and Michael Schwarz, a partner at leading London-based human rights firm Bindman & Partners, is part of the international legal team helping him to fight extradition.

Eight hundred civilians were held hostage for three days in a Moscow theatre last month by armed Chechen rebels demanding that Russia withdraw its troops from the war in Chechnya.

More than 120 people died when Russian troops stormed the building and released a poisonous gas into the auditorium.

Mr Schwarz said Mr Zakayev was known as a liberal and democratic politician who had distanced himself from terrorism.

'Mr Zakayev is being used as a chess piece in international politics,' he said.

'For example, the extradition papers detailed a number of terrorist and military offences which he had allegedly committed before September last year, after which they maintained that he had gone into hiding - which does not tally with the fact that he was in Moscow shortly afterwards leading a team negotiating a peace settlement with the Russians.'

Mr Schwarz was contacted by the actress Vanessa Redgrave, a close friend of Mr Zakayev.

The legal team will argue that the extradition is politically motivated, rather than being based on actual crimes, and also that Mr Zakayev faces torture if he is taken to Russia.

'Mr Zakayev is the acceptable face of Chechen politics, and his arrest shows that Russia has decided to burn its bridges with Chechnya.'

Victoria MacCallum