Vanessa Redgrave and Akhmed Zakayev

Akhmed Zakayev (Ахмед Закаев; born April 26, 1956) is the Foreign Minister of Chechen republic government-in-exile, appointed by the President Aslan Maskhadov shortly after his 1997 election, and again in 2006 by Abdul Halim Sadulayev. Redgrave and Zakayev File history Legend: (cur) = this is the current file, (del) = delete this old version, (rev) = revert to this old version. ... Redgrave and Zakayev File history Legend: (cur) = this is the current file, (del) = delete this old version, (rev) = revert to this old version. ... Vanessa Redgrave during the 2004 season of Nip/Tuck. ... April 26 is the 116th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (117th in leap years). ... 1956 (MCMLVI) was a leap year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Capital Grozny Area - total - % water Ranked 80th - 15,300 km² - negligible Population - Total - Density Ranked 49th - est. ... A government in exile is a political group that claims to be a countrys legitimate government, but for various reasons is unable to exercise its legal power, and instead resides in a foreign country. ... Abraham Lincoln, 16th President of the United States (1861-1865) The majority of this article is about heads of states. ... Aslan Maskhadov Aslan Aliyevich Maskhadov (Russian: Аслан Алиевич Масхадов) (September 21, 1951 – March 8, 2005) was a leader of the separatist movement in the southern Russian republic of Chechnya. ... 1997 (MCMXCVII) was a common year starting on Wednesday of the Gregorian calendar. ... 2006 (MMVI) is a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Sheikh Abdul Halim Sheikh Abdul-Halim Abu-Salamovich Sadulayev (Шейх Абдул-Халим) (1966 – 17 June 2006) was the fourth Chechen rebel president to be killed in 11 years of separatist warfare in the southern Russian region. ...

Political and military career

Akhmed Zakayev, a former actor at Grozny theatre, became a Minister of Culture in the government of Dzokhar Dudayev. After the start of the First Chechen War he left his job and eventually became an important field commander of a Chechen resistance group. His group operated in the South West of the country with its headquarters in the town of Urus-Martan. In August 1996, Zakayev's group took part in the Chechen recapture of Grozny, where he led the attack on the city's Central Railway Station. Minister of culture is a cabinet position in a government: Minister of Canadian Heritage (Canada) Minister of Culture (Denmark) (Denmark) Minister of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (Japan) (Japan) Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport (United Kingdom) Categories: Disambiguation | Government stubs ... Combatants Russian Federation Chechen Republic of Ichkeria Commanders Pavel Grachev Aslan Maskhadov Strength Peaking at 45,000 3,000 regulars, thousands of irregulars The First Chechen War (Russian: первая чеченская война) occurred when Russian forces attempted to stop the southern republic of Chechnya from seceding in a two year period lasting from 1994... Wiktionary has related dictionary definitions, such as: resistance Resistance may refer to: Antibiotic resistance, the ability of a microorganism to withstand the effects of an antibiotic Disease resistance, in immunology; see also disease resistance in fruit and vegetables Resistance, in physics, a force that tends to oppose motion Friction, the... Urus-Martan(Chechen: Halha-Marta) is the third town of Chechen Republic, located on the river Martan (Chechen: Marta). ... 1996 (MCMXCVI) was a leap year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar, and was designated the International Year for the Eradication of Poverty. ...

His war merits in the mid-90's paved Zakayev's way to Chechen high politics. As a moderate leader, he represented Chechnya at the peace talks in Khavsa-Yurt, which in 1996 brought a peaceful end to the first armed conflict between Moscow and Grozny. After the talks, Zakayev became the Chechen Deputy Prime Minister and a special envoy of President Aslan Maskhadov. At the same time, however, he continued to be the commander of his armed group.

Second Chechen War

Zakayev was involved in negotiations with Russian representatives before and after the September 1999 Russian offensive. In the course of the Second Chechen War Zakayev briefly fought on the Chechen side. In 2000, after having been wounded, he left for abroad and turned into the most prominent representative of President Maskhadov in Western Europe. 1999 (MCMXCIX) was a common year starting on Friday, and was designated the International Year of Old Farts by the Sometimes-United Nations. ... now. ... This article is about the year 2000. ...

Exile

Living in London, Zakayev organized the World Chechen Congress in Copenhagen, Denmark which brought together Chechens and Russian human rights activists in October 2002. During the congress, he was accused by Russia of involvement in planning the Moscow theatre siege. Zakayev firmly denied involvement in the theater capture. The Russians demanded his arrest and extradition, alleging foreknowledge of the Moscow theatre siege and other crimes involving hundreds of killings and captures of Russian servicemen during the separatist wars in Chechnya. He was arrested in Denmark on October 30, 2002 and held for five weeks. The matter was never brought to court and he was released by the justice ministry who said that Russia's charges against him were not sufficiently grounded in fact. While there is officially a moratorium on the use of the death penalty in Russia (as is a must for any member of the Council of Europe), the Danish courts refused to extradite Zakayev, explaining that the European Convention on Human Rights prohibits them from repatriating persons when they face the death penalty. London (pronounced ) is the capital city of England and the United Kingdom. ... Copenhagen (IPA: , rhyming with pagan (the way the Danes themselves pronounce the name of the capital in English), or , with a as in spa; Danish   IPA: ) is the capital of Denmark and the countrys largest city (metropolitan population 1,211,542 (2006)), at present made up of 16 municipalities. ... Human rights are rights which some hold to be inalienable and belonging to all humans. ... For album titles with the same name, see 2002 (album). ... On Wednesday, October 23, 2002, 40 Chechen terrorists seized a crowded Moscow theatre, taking over 700 hostages and demanding the withdrawal of Russian forces from Chechnya. ... Extradition is a formal process by which a criminal suspect held by one government is handed over to another government for trial or, if the suspect has already been tried and found guilty, to serve his or her sentence. ... On Wednesday, October 23, 2002, 40 Chechen terrorists seized a crowded Moscow theatre, taking over 700 hostages and demanding the withdrawal of Russian forces from Chechnya. ... A Norwegian soldier (a Corporal, armed with an MP-5) A soldier is a person who has enlisted with, or has been conscripted into, the armed forces of a sovereign country and has undergone training and received equipment to defend that country or its interests. ... October 30 is the 303rd day of the year (304th in leap years) in the Gregorian Calendar, with 62 days remaining. ... In law, a moratorium (from Latin morari, to delay) is a legal authorization postponing for a specified time the payment of debts or obligations. ... Capital punishment, or the death penalty, is the execution of a convicted criminal by the State as punishment for crimes known as capital crimes or capital offenses. ... The Palace of Europe in Strasbourg European Flag: used by the Council of Europe and by the European Union The Council of Europe (French: Conseil de lEurope , German: Europarat /ˌɔɪ.ˈro. ... The Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms, also known as the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR), was adopted under the auspices of the Council of Europe[1] in 1950 to protect human rights and fundamental freedoms. ... Capital punishment, or the death penalty, is the execution of a convicted criminal by the State as punishment for crimes known as capital crimes or capital offenses. ...

On December 7 2002, Zakayev returned to London, where he claimed asylum. The British authorities arrested him and he was released on 50,000 GBP bail, which was paid by Vanessa Redgrave who had travelled with him from Denmark. On November 13, 2003 a British judge rejected the Russian request for his extradition, saying that it was politically motivated and that he would be at risk of torture. On November 29 it was announced that he had been granted political asylum in the UK. He has visited Germany without being arrested, the Interpol warrant voided by Germany's accession to the ECHR and the risk of torture mentioned above. December 7 is the 341st day (342nd in leap years) of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... A refugee is a person who as defined under the 1951 United Nations Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees. ... GBP may be: short for Game Boy Player the ISO currency code for the British Pound Sterling. ... Vanessa Redgrave during the 2004 season of Nip/Tuck. ... November 13 is the 317th day of the year (318th in leap years) in the Gregorian Calendar, with 48 days remaining. ... 2003 (MMIII) was a common year starting on Wednesday of the Gregorian calendar. ... For other uses, see Torture (disambiguation). ... November 29 is the 333rd (in leap years the 334th) day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar. ... Power lines leading to a trash dump hover just overhead in El Carpio, a Nicaraguan refugee camp in Costa Rica Under international law, a refugee is a person who is outside his/her country of nationality or habitual residence; has a well-founded fear of persecution because of his/her... Interpol (or International Criminal Police Organization) was created in 1923 to assist international criminal police co-operation. ... The Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms, also known as the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR), was adopted under the auspices of the Council of Europe[1] in 1950 to protect human rights and fundamental freedoms. ...

External links

• Judge rejects bid to extradite Chechen rebel leader; The Guardian; 13 November 2003.
• Chechen envoy granted UK asylum; BBC; 29 November 2003