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Denmark needs more evidence to extradite Chechen
By Elinor Schang
COPENHAGEN, Nov 2 (Reuters) - Denmark needs more evidence before it can consider extraditing a Chechen rebel arrested at Russia's behest for allegedly helping plot a deadly Moscow theatre siege, a Justice Ministry spokeswoman said on Saturday.
Prosecutors in Moscow said they would send additional information to Copenhagen shortly.
Denmark arrested Akhmed Zakayev on Wednesday. The top aide to fugitive Chechen president Aslan Maskhadov was attending a long-planned Chechen exiles' congress in Copenhagen that has soured relations with Russia.
The Danish spokeswoman confirmed an official extradition request had been received from Moscow, but said more information was needed before action could be taken.
"We have had an official request for extraditing Zakayev but the information that we have had so far is inadequate. For instance we need an official translation and more factual evidence," she told Reuters.
She said authorities had requested the information and in the meantime Zakayev would remain in custody. He was ordered to be detained for 13 days after his arrest.
A spokeswoman for the Russian Prosecutor General in Moscow said it was gathering additional evidence against Zakayev and would send it soon.
"The Danish side will be presented with incontrovertible evidence proving Zakayev's guilt in the misdeeds he is charged with," the spokeswoman said.
Russia's charges against Zakayev include armed rebellion, organisation of illegal armed groups and attempts on the lives of law-and-order officials.
Zakayev and Maskhadov both condemned the Moscow siege by Chechen rebels last week as the work of a militant faction outside their control. At least 119 hostages and 50 armed guerrillas were killed when Russian troops gassed and stormed the packed theatre after a 58-hour standoff.
The Kremlin said Maskhadov was behind the raid.
Russian Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov told reporters on Friday: "The office of the Russian Prosecutor General, through the Foreign Ministry, has sent to Copenhagen all necessary documents proving Zakayev's involvement in a series of terrorist acts on the Russian territory.
"We think that these documents contain enough proof that Zakayev should be handed over to Russian justice."
Russian officials were elated by the detention of Zakayev, the most prominent spokesman for Maskhadov, who was elected in 1997 after forcing out Russian troops but went into hiding in 1999 when Russian President Vladimir Putin sent the army back into Chechnya. (Additional reporting by Andrei Shukshin in Moscow)
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