BRIEFS

– KILLERS OF SVERDLOVSK POLICE IN CUSTODY

On February 5, the deputy chief of Sverdlovsk Oblast’s main police department, Viktor Berdnikov, told journalists in Yekaterinburg that all of the suspects in an attack on Sverdlovsk policemen in Chechnya in September 2006 have been arrested, ITAR-Tass reported. Five policemen from the Sverdlovsk police garrison were killed in a shootout with gunmen in Grozny’s Staropromyslovsky district on September 21, 2006 (Chechnya Weekly, September 21, 2006). According to Berdnikov, the sixth and last suspect, who was detained in St. Petersburg on December 30, did not take part in the attack but financed it. The other five suspects were detained 15 days after the attack. All six are Grozny residents. Berdnikov claimed that in this and in other cases, gunmen are being paid to carry out such attacks.

– CHECHEN IN SWEDEN MAY BE EXTRADITED

Sweden’s Prosecutor General Fredrik Wersall said on February 5 that a 29-year-old Chechen, Magomed Uspaev, who is suspected of having assisted in the abduction of ITAR-Tass correspondent Vladimir Yatsina in the summer of 1999, might be extradited to Russia without hindrance. According to ITAR-Tass Wersall’s decision will be considered by the Swedish Supreme Court as required by a law of 1957 that regulates extradition issues between Sweden and Russia. Since Uspaev is resisting extradition to Russia, the Swedish government will have the final say. Uspaev, who was detained in August 2006, arrived in Sweden in 2002 and obtained a residence permit. He claims to be a cousin of the late Chechen leader Aslan Maskhadov and that his surname is not Uspaev but Zakhidov.