Akhmed Zakayev

Infobox Officeholder
name = Akhmed Zakayev
Ахмед Халидович Закаев


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order = Prime Minister of the Chechen Republic of Ichkeria
term_start = November 2007
term_end =
vicepresident =
viceprimeminister =
deputy =
president =
primeminister =
predecessor =
successor =
order2 = Deputy Prime Minister of the Chechen Republic of Ichkeria
term_start2 =
term_end2 =
vicepresident2 =
viceprimeminister2 =
deputy2 =
president2 =
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successor2 =
order3 = Foreign Minister of the Chechen Republic of Ichkeria
term_start3 = 1997
term_end3 = November 20, 2007
vicepresident3 =
viceprimeminister3 =
deputy3 =
president3 =
primeminister3 =
predecessor3 =
successor3 =
birth_date = birth date and age|1956|4|26|df=y
birth_place = flagicon|Soviet Union|1923 Kirovskiy, Soviet Union
death_date =
death_place =
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profession = Actor
religion = Islam


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Akhmed Khalidovich Zakayev ( _ru. Ахмед Халидович Закаев) (born April 26, 1956 in Kazakh SSR, Soviet Union) is the former Deputy Prime Minister and the current Prime Minister of the Chechen Republic of Ichkeria. He was also the Foreign Minister of the Ichkerian government, appointed by the President Aslan Maskhadov shortly after his 1997 election, and again in 2006 by Abdul Halim Sadulayev.

Early life

Akhmed Zakayev was born in 1956 in the settlement of Kirovskiy in Kazakhstan, where his family was deported by Stalin in 1944. He graduated from the acting and choreography schools in Voronezh and Moscow and worked as an actor at Grozny theatre, specializing in a Shakespearean roles. Since 1991, he was the chairman of the Chechen Union of the Theatrical Actors.

In 1994, Zakayev became a Minister of Culture in the Chechen government of Dzokhar Dudayev.

Chechen wars

After the start of the First Chechen War he left his job and took weapons, taking part in the battle of Grozny in 1994-1995 and leading the defence of the village Goyskoye in the March/April 1995. His group operated in the South West of the country with its headquarters in the town of Urus-Martan; he was promoted to the rank of Brigadier General and appointed the commander of the Urus-Martan Front. Eventually, in February 1996, he became the commander of the whole Western Group of Defense of Ichkeria. In August 1996, Zakayev's forces took part in the Chechen recapture of Grozny, where he led the attack on the city's Central Railway Station (according to the later indictment, this attack killed about 200 Russian Interior Ministry troops).

His war merits in the mid-1990s paved Zakayev's way to Chechen high politics. He became the acting president Zelimkhan Yandarbiyev's advisor for the security matters and the secretary of the Chechen Security Council. As a moderate leader, he represented Chechnya at the peace talks in Khasav-Yurt, which in 1996 brought a peaceful end to the first armed conflict between Moscow and Grozny. After the war, Zakayev became the Chechen Deputy Prime Minister in charge of education and culture and a special envoy of President Aslan Maskhadov in relations with Moscow.

During the early phases of the Second Chechen War in 1999-2000, Zakayev commanded Maskhadov's presidential guard. Zakayev was involved in negotiations with Russian representatives before and during the resumed hostilities. In 2000, after having been wounded in a car accident during another siege of Grozny, he left for abroad and turned into the most prominent representative of President Maskhadov in Western Europe, including France and Switzerland.

In exile

Since January 2002, Zakayev resides in United Kingdom with his immediate family. On November 18, 2001, Zakayev, already wanted internationally by Russia, flew from Turkey to the Sheremetyevo International Airport near Moscow to meet the Kremlin's envoy, General Viktor Kazantsev, but the talks were fruitless because Kazantsev demanded a complete capitulation of the Chechen side. On July 18, 2002, he met with the former Secretary of Security Council of Russia Ivan Rybkin in Zürich, Switzerland.

;Zakayev case

Living in London, Zakayev organized the World Chechen Congress in Copenhagen, Denmark, in October 2002. During the congress, he was accused by Russia of involvement in planning the Moscow theatre siege. He was detained there on October 30, 2002, under an Interpol warrant filed by Russia, which named him a suspect in the theater siege. [ [http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,386954-1,00.html Russian to the Core] "TIME", November 03, 2002] Alex Goldfarb and Marina Litvinenko. "" Free Press, New York, 2007. ISBN 978-1416551652. ] Zakayev denied involvement in the theater capture. He was held in Denmark for five weeks and released due to lack of evidence. [ [http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/2391629.stm Russia pushes for Chechen extradition] , BBC News, 2 November 2002]

On December 7, 2002, Zakayev returned to Britain but the British authorities arrested him on the London Heathrow Airport (he was released on 50,000 GBP bail, which was paid by Boris Berezovsky's foundation and the British actress Vanessa Redgrave who had traveled with him from Denmark). He was accused by Russian authorities of series of crimes rannging from kidnapping, murder of more than 300 troops and 12 civilians (employees of military commandant's office), and armed rebellion, to execution of two Russian Orthodox Church priests and planning terrorist attacks.

One accusation, cutting fingers of a suspected FSB informer Ivan Solovyov, was based on a written testimony by the former Zakayev's bodyguard Duk-Vakha Dushuyev provided by Russian authorities. However, it appeared that Solovyev had lost his fingers much earlier "apparently to a frostbite", and witness Dushuyev escaped from Russia and told the court that he was tortured at a Russian army base with electric shocks to extort the false testimony against Zakayev. [ [http://www.sptimes.ru/index.php?action_id=2&story_id=10890 Kadyrov Accused of Intimidation] , Associated Press, September 9, 2003] In addition, one of two supposedly murdered priests (Father Sergei) turned out to be alive, while another witness Reverend Filipp, supposedly kidnapped by Zakayev in 1996, also refuted his testimony and denounced Russian authorities for "implicating the Church in politics". Leading Russian human rights activist Sergei Kovalev said Zakayev would be at risk of death in Russian captivity, and spoke about two high-profile Chechen prisoners, Salman Raduyev and Turpal-Ali Atgeriyev, who quickly died after being jailed in Russia, and another, Ruslan Alikhadzhiyev, who disappeared after arrest. According to Alexander Goldfarb, one of the defence’s most important arguments was the meeting between Zakayev and Kazantsev at Moscow's Sheremetyevo airport in 2001, which took place when the Chechen envoy had already been put by Russia on the international wanted list, and during which Sergey Yastrzhembsky appeared on Russian television and said that Russian government had no grievances against Zakayev. [ [http://www.gazeta.ru/2003/07/01/Zakayevsaved.shtml Zakayev saved by Mr Y] , Gazeta.ru, 2003/07/01]

Therefore, on November 13, 2003, a British judge rejected the Russian request, saying that it was politically motivated and that he would be at risk of torture in the case of "unjust and oppressive" extradition. [ [http://www.guardian.co.uk/chechnya/Story/0,2763,1084153,00.html Judge rejects bid to extradite Chechen rebel leader] "The Guardian", November 13, 2003] He also said the crimes which involve Zakayev allegedly using armed force against combatants were not extraditable because they took place in an "internal armed conflict" situation. [ [http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2003/11/14/nzakay14.xml Chechen rebel defeats Putin's extradition plea] , "The Telegraph", 13/11/2003] Russian authorities in turn responded by accusing the court of "double standards". [ [http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/crime/russian-request-to-extradite-chechen-exile-is-turned-down-735679.html Russian request to extradite Chechen exile is turned down] , "The Independent", 14 November 2003]

;Political asylum

On November 29, 2003, it was announced that he had been granted political asylum in the UK. [ [http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/3249474.stm Chechen envoy granted UK asylum] BBC News, 9 November 2003] Since then, he has visited Germany and Poland without being arrested. During the September 2004 Beslan school hostage crisis, Zakayev agreed with the civilian negotiators and authorities of North Ossetia-Alania to fly to Russia to negotiate with the hostage takers. However, the siege ended in bloody confusion just few hours before this could happen. [ [http://www.themoscowtimes.com/stories/2004/09/06/014.html Zakayev Was Asked to Assist in Negotiations at the School] , "The Moscow Times", September 6, 2004.] [ [http://www.jamestown.org/chechnya_weekly/article.php?articleid=2372350 NEW DETAILS EMERGE ON MASKHADOV'S BID TO MEDIATE IN BESLAN] The Jamestown Foundation, January 06, 2006] [ [http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,695816,00.html Communication Breakdown] , "TIME", September 12, 2004]

In London, Zakayev became a close friend to the Russian dissident and former FSB officer Alexander Litvinenko, murdered by radioactive poisoning in November 2006. [ [http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2006/12/08/npoison108.xml Litvinenko laid to rest in historic Highgate] "The Telegraph", 08/12/2006] Zakayev accused the President of Russia Vladimir Putin of ordering the death of Litvinenko. [ [http://www.kavkazcenter.com/eng/content/2006/12/08/6739_print.html Zakaev says Putin was behind Litvinenko's murder] , Kavkaz Center, 8 December 2006] In 2007, British police warned Zakayev that there was an increased threat to his personal security shortly before the alleged attempt to kill Berezovsky. [ [http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2007/jul/22/russia.world Police feared assassination for two Russian dissidents] , "The Guardian, July 22, 2007] According to the KGB defector Oleg Gordievsky in 2008, Zakayev was placed #2 on the FSB assassination list, between Berezovsky and Litvinenko. [ [http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/news/news.html?in_article_id=557508&in_page_id=1770 Police probe 'new KGB poison attack' as defector Gordievsky is found unconscious in Surrey home] , "Daily Mail", 6 April 2008]

On October 31, 2007, Zakayev officially distanced himself from the resigned Chechen president Doku Umarov and the Chechen Islamist ideologist Movladi Udugov who together declared the creation of Caucasus Emirate. Zakayev called for the remnants of the separatist parliament to form the new government. [ [http://www.chechenpress.co.uk/english/news/2007/10/31/05.shtml Statement by the Minister for Foreign Affairs of the Chechen Republic of Ichkeria] Chechenpress, October 31, 2007] Soon after, on November 20, 2007, Zakayev has submitted his resignation from the ministerial post, but said this should not be viewed as a departure from "the fight for our independence, our freedom, and for the recognition of our state". [ [http://www.rferl.org/featuresarticle/2007/11/3b1b6b92-be6a-4358-afdb-faafd3dd64a4.html Foreign Minister Of Chechen Separatist Government Resigns] Radio Free Europe, November 20, 2007] Since November 2007, Zakayev says he is now the Prime Minister of the Chechen government in exile. [ [http://www.kavkazcenter.com/eng/content/2007/11/25/9115.shtml As a result of “telephone voting”, Zakayev has declared himself a "prime minister" of Ichkeria] Kavkaz Center, 25 November 2007] [ [http://www.frontpagemag.com/Articles/Read.aspx?GUID=17424AFF-8E69-4DE2-AE6E-C84B31DC2240 The Putin-Osama Connection] , Frontpage Magazine, January 16, 2008]

References

* [http://hayrullah.blog.onet.pl/2,ID250774397,index.html Bohaterowie Czeczenii: Ahmed Zakajew]

External links

* [http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/today/reports/archive/international/zakayev.shtml Who is Akhmed Zakayev?] BBC
* [http://www.amnesty.org/russia/zakayev_case.html Campaigns - Russia campaign - The Zakayev Case] Amnesty International
* [http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/z/akhmed_zakayev/index.html Akhmed Zakayev News] "The New York Times"

Articles

* [http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/2375233.stm Zakayev: Key Chechen figure] , BBC News, 6 December 2002
* [http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9D0CE2DD1F3BF93AA35751C1A9649C8B63 Chechen in Extradition Dispute: Criminal or Peacemaker?] , "The New York Times", December 9, 2002
* [http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2002/dec/22/chechnya.johnsweeney Sharing a glass with the 'international terrorist'] , "The Guardian", December 22, 2002
* [http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/programmes/breakfast_with_frost/2629171.stm Breakfast with Frost | Redgrave Zakayev] , BBC News, January 5, 2003
* [http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2004/sep/07/russia.chechnya2 Beslan was barbaric - so has been Russia's reign of terror in Chechnya] , "The Guardian", September 7, 2004
* [http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/library/news/2006/07/mil-060710-rferl07.htm Chechnya: Zakayev Comments On Reports Of Basayev's Death] , Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, July 10, 2006
* [http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/london/6175627.stm I will not be silenced, says Russia critic] , BBC News, 14 December 2006
* [http://www.theliberal.co.uk/issue_10/politics/zakayev_bennett_10.html Chechyna’s Theatre of War: Akhmed Zakayev – actor, politician and former resistance fighter – talks to Vanora Bennett] , "The Liberal", 2007
* [http://www.cacianalyst.org/?q=node/4776/print Umarov's Caucasian Emirate: Where for now for Akhmed Zakayev?] , Central Asia-Caucasus Institute Analyst, 01/23/2008