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Chechen held not linked by Moscow to siege-Denmark
COPENHAGEN, Nov 6 (Reuters) - Russia's request to extradite a Chechen rebel arrested in Copenhagen is based on suspected criminal acts committed in 1996-99 and has no link to the Moscow theatre siege last month, Danish authorities said on Wednesday.
"The extradition order that the Justice Department received last week only refers to acts committed in Chechnya from 1996 to 1999," Justice Minister Lene Espersen told parliament.
"Danish authorities therefore have to consider if an extradition can be made on these grounds," she said.
Russia submitted new evidence to Denmark on Tuesday against Akhmed Zakayev, a top aide to Chechen fugitive rebel leader Aslan Maskhadov.
Zakayev, who visited Copenhagen to attend a conference of exiled Chechens, was arrested a few days after the end of the 58-hour Moscow theatre siege.
"The information we have received from the Russian authorities does not extend the request to include the Moscow incident," Justice Department head of office Jacob Sharf told Reuters.
Zakayev has condemned the siege and said the 50 Chechen guerrillas who seized the building belonged to a splinter group outside Maskhadov's control.
Denmark has set a deadline of November 30 for Russia to provide enough evidence against Zakayev to extradite him.
Denmark's central criminal police, which received Russia's Interpol-distributed request to apprehend Zakayev, say the initial documents from Moscow were classified as non-urgent, contained contradictions and lacked sufficient detail.
On October 27, Danish police received new documents from Moscow -- a list, marked urgent, of 78 names including Zakayev's suspected by Russia of "various terrorist acts."
"In case the wanted persons are located in your country, we hereby formally request their provisional arrest pending extradition," that Moscow request said.
The information was forwarded to the Danish security police and led eventually to Zakayev's arrest.
Danish legal experts were quoted by local media on Wednesday as saying it was impossible to judge whether the new material from Russia would suffice for a Danish extradition order.
"We're still looking into the request and the additional information we have received," Sharf said.
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