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Chechen rebel leader departs Denmark - report
COPENHAGEN, Dec 5 (Reuters) - Chechen rebel leader Akhmed Zakayev, wanted by Russia for crimes allegedly committed in 1996-99, left Denmark on Thursday for an unknown destination, Danish DR1 television reported.
DR1 quoted the Chechen exile leadership's official representative in Denmark, Ousman Fersaouli, and Danish police as saying Zakayev had left the country.
Danish TV2 news quoted police as saying Zakayv had left at around 8 p.m. (1900 GMT) from Copenhagen airport.
Zakayev, a top aide to fugitive Chechen leader Aslan Maskhadov, was released on Tuesday after spending 34 days in prison in Denmark while authorities examined Russia's request for his extradition.
The Danish justice ministry decided that the evidence provided by Moscow was insufficient to warrant handing him over.
Zakayev came to Denmark in late October to attend a conference for exile Chechens held just a few days after a suicide squad of Chechen gunmen took hundreds of people hostage in a central Moscow theatre. That audacious three-day siege led to the death of 129 people.
The two-day World Chechen Congress went ahead despite Russian protests, with the Danish government upholding Denmark's freedom of speech and freedom of assembly laws.
The conference caused a diplomatic row between Moscow and Copenhagen and Russian President Vladimir Putin cancelled a planned state visit to Denmark, which holds the European Union presidency, in early November.
An EU-Russia summit was moved to Brussels from Copenhagen.
Russia, which regards Maskhadov, Zakayev and other Chechens fighting for independence for their province as "terrorists," issued an international arrest warrant for Zakayev via Interpol and Danish police detained the Chechen rebel leader on October 30.
After Zakayev's release this week, his Danish lawyer said the Interpol arrest warrant remained valid and that police in any country where Zakayev may arrive could feel obliged to detain him.
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