#4 - JRL 6600
The Economist (UK)
December 14-2, 2002
Extradition
Unwelcome guest
A fugitive Chechen diplomat goes to ground in London

IT IS flattering that persecuted foreigners hold British justice in high regard. The trouble is, sometimes they turn up to take advantage of it. That is the headache created for the government by Akhmed Zakayev, the envoy-at-large of the rebel leadership in Chechnya.

Like the leader he represents, Mr Zakayev is on the run. His president, Aslan Maskhadov, is hiding in a cave in the Caucasian mountains, hunted, not very effectively, by the Russian army. Mr Zakayev is being hunted round Western Europe by Russia's lawyers, who want him extradited to face terrorism-related charges.

The Kremlin tried and failed to have Mr Zakayev handed over from Denmark, where he was attending a Chechen émigré get-together. He arrived in London last week, backed by an unlikely bunch of supporters. These include Boris Berezovsky, an expatriate Russian tycoon who finances all manner of causes likely to annoy the Kremlin; Vanessa Redgrave, an actress known for her support for revolutionary socialist causes; and Karl von Habsburg, an Austrian who heads a human rights group for unrepresented peoples. Mr Zakayev and his supporters believe that no British court will hand him over to the mercies of Russia's notoriously corrupt and politically biased legal system.

They are probably right. Britain and other western countries do not buy Russia's argument that Mr Zakayev and his colleagues are simply Islamic terrorists. A court hearing on December 11th bailed Mr Zakayev until January 9th.

Although Mr Zakayev, an actor by profession, did fight in Chechnya in 1994-96, Russia has not produced any convincing evidence linking him to recent atrocities, such as the hostage-taking in a Moscow theatre in October. Russia's case is further weakened by the fact that only a year ago, the Kremlin held formal talks with him, in an abortive attempt to end the war.

Nonetheless, the British government is twitchy about Mr Zakayev and the cause he represents. Although he is a moderate and secular figure, other top Chechens have received money and support from radical Islamic groups. Under their rule, Chechnya was terrifyingly lawless.

Britain, like other outsiders, wants a negotiated end to the war. When and if it comes, it will probably involve some role for Mr Zakayev, whether the Kremlin likes it or not. Better, then, to keep him alive.