Georgia extradites ethnic Chechen Russian citizen with terrorism charges to Russia
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Georgia has allowed the extradition of an ethnic Chechen Russian citizen Ramzan Akhiadov to Russia, who was charged with terrorist activities and recruiting people for Islamic State between 2013 and 2015 by the Russian Prosecutor’s Office.
The extradition took place earlier today, Georgian Justice Minister Tea Tsulukiani confirmed, stating that Georgia had received guarantees from Russia that Akhiadov will face no threats in prison.
Akhiadov, 39, had lived in the Georgian city of Kutaisi over the past two years, with wife and four children.
A lawyer says that he was detained in December 2018, when a patrol policeman accidentally found he was wanted by Interpol.
For me, as for a former lawyer of the European Court of Human Rights, protection of rights of each citizen, no matter their ethnicity, is of top importance. We have demanded security guarantees for the detainee and received the guarantees,” Tsulukaini said.
The Georgian Justice Ministry says that they will monitor how the guarantees are met.
Akhiadov does not admit to the crime and says that he might be tortured or killed in the Russian prison.
The member of the European Georgia opposition party Elene Khoshtaria has criticised the government for the extradition, saying that it was a ‘pro-Russian’ decision and ‘giving a man to be killed.”
The head of Georgia’s State Security Service Vakhtang Gomelauri stated in parliament today that the threat of terrorism remains low in Georgia.
Gomelauri told lawmakers that in 2017 the State Security Service managed to prevent terrorist acts, referring to two recent large-scale anti-terrorism raids in Georgia.
Georgian State Security Service and the Interior Ministry acted jointly to detain 21-year-old Ruslan Shavadze, an accomplice of the Islamic State terrorist Akhmed Chatayev who blew himself up in Tbilisi last year during a counter-terrorism operation.
Georgia’s State Security Service (SSS) has confirmed that one of the three killed suspects in the Tbilisi counter-terrorist operation on November 22 is an Islamic State-linked, Russia citizen of Chechen origin, Ahmed Chataev. SSS stated that two suspects were killed by Georgian law enforcers, while "Chataev exploded himself.”
The State Security Service of Georgia announced a short time ago that the special operation to arrest suspected terrorists in Tbilisi has officially ended. The officer from the Special Operations Forces, who wounded during the operation, died in hospital.
Hacker Yaroslav Sumbayev, who faces cybercrime and murder charges in the Russian Federation, has been extradited to Russia from Tbilisi earlier today.
Two people have died and two have been injured in a deadly confrontation between Georgians and Chechens in the Turkish city of Istanbul earlier today.