Delimkhanov Placed on Interpol Wanted List

Seven Russian citizens, including Adam Delimkhanov, the State Duma deputy and cousin of Chechen President Ramzan Kadyrov, have been put on Interpol’s wanted list at the request of the United Arab Emirates in connection with last month’s murder of former Vostok battalion commander Sulim Yamadaev in Dubai (North Caucasus Weekly, April 3, 10 and 17).

Along with Delimkhanov, the other six men placed on Interpol’s wanted list—Zelimkhan Mazaev, Elimpasha Khatsuev, Salman Kimayev, Tirpal Kimaev, Ramazan Musiev and Marvan Kimaev—are “primarily of Chechen nationality,” Russia Today reported on April 28.

The UAE newspaper The Nation on April 28 quoted Interpol as saying in a statement that it welcomed the Dubai police department’s request that it issue Red Notices, or international wanted notices, for the seven Russian nationals in connection with the killing of Yamadaev.

“These men are accused of plotting and carrying out a murder in the United Arab Emirates, and circulating their details worldwide on Interpol Red Notices means that other countries are fully informed and can take any appropriate measures within their own laws to detain or arrest the individuals and therefore protect their own citizens,” The Nation quoted Interpol’s secretary general, Ronald K. Noble, as saying.

As the newspaper noted, Dubai’s police chief, Lieutenant General Dahi Khalfan Tamim, has called the Yamadaev assassination “a dirty operation of settling scores, of a purely Chechen making” that spilled over abroad. Tamim has also said that unquestionable evidence, including a gold-plated pistol, was traced to Delimkhanov’s security guards. According to the Dubai police, the pistol—a Makarov—and a jacket and gloves worn by the killer were found dumped near the crime scene.

Meanwhile, Pavel Krasheninnikov, who chairs the State Duma’s committee on civil, criminal and administrative law, said on April 27 that Russia will under no circumstances extradite Delimkhanov to the UAE in connection with the Yamadaev murder. “A Russian citizen cannot be extradited to a foreign country for court proceedings,” RIA Novosti quoted Krasheninnikov as saying. “This is written in the Constitution of our country.”
 
Russian Today noted that Russian authorities have said they have no proof of Delimkhanov’s involvement in wrongdoing and quoted Krasheninnikov as saying that if Russian law enforcement is given such proof, “it can serve only as a reason for investigation and trial inside the country.”