The Council of Chechen Refugees in Azerbaijan has appealed to the President of Georgia, Mr. Mikheil Saakashvili on behalf of two former Chechen resistance fighters who face extradition from Azerbaijan to Russia.

Here is the appeal:

The Council of Chechen Refugees in Azerbaijan appeals to you on behalf of two of our compatriots who were convicted and have already served their sentences in the prisons of Azerbaijan.

In fact, these two men once defended the independence of their homeland and only because of it; they were locked behind the bars. Now they are to be released. However, they will be deported to Russia which is fraught with tragic consequences. Others in their situation have often been pursued by the Russian secret service upon release, after which many of them simply disappeared without a trace.

We are confident that you, like anyone else, understand the feelings of patriotism, freedom, and independence like our brothers, Gadzhi Chinkayev and Abdullakh Abdulkerimov, who have suffered enough already.

We ask the government of Georgia through you, Mr. Mikheil Nikolozovich Saakashvili to grant political asylum to two of our countrymen, Gadzhi Chinkayev and Abdullakh Abdulkerimov, because Georgia is the only state in the North Caucasus and Transcaucasia in which values of human life and rights are respected.

With respect and hope from the Council of Chechen Refugees in Azerbaijan,

Ramzan Mollayev
Chairman of the Council of Chechen Refugees in Azerbaijan

*Text was translated by Waynakh Online and edited by Michael Capobianco