Slovakia Extradited a Native of Chechnya to Russia
Slovakia has handed over to Russia Anzor Chentiev, an asylum seeker from the Russian occupied Chechen Republic of Ichkeria.
After nearly eight years of consideration by the authorities of the Slovak Republic, in May 2014 the Minister of Justice of Slovakia had issued a final decision to satisfy the request of the Russian Federation; and recently the Slovakian authorities handed over him to Russia.
Anzor Chentiev faces criminal proceedings with terrorism-related charges initiated against him by the Russian authorities. Anzor Chentiev applied for asylum in Slovakia after he arrived in the country in 2005. According to his lawyer he was placed in prison in 2006 – where he was kept until his extradition – in connection with an extradition request from the Russian Prosecutor General’s Office which has no basis or proven evidence. The Russian Prosecutor’s indictment is based on testimony from an individual, A.M. Mukayev, who later admitted that he made the statement while being tortured.
According to the Russian prosecutor General’s Office, Anzor Chentiev suspected of an attack in which two Russian occupying soldiers were killed in Grozny. According to Russia’s claims, “In 2001 Anzor Chentiev and his accomplices killed two members of the Interior Ministry staff in Grozny. Anzor Chentiev probably operated as part of a criminal gang. He has been prosecuted in Russia for banditry and attack on military officers.”
Recall that, Anzor Chentiev didn’t commit any crimes against Slovakia, Russia or their people. He has only defend his homeland and Chechen families against the brutal Russian invasion in Chechnya. But after a while he has to leave from his homeland on 28 December 2005. He was searching a refuge in an European country. So, as a combatant, Anzor Chentiev’s extradition to Russia violates a whole number of international conventions.