Akhmed Zakayev, one of Chechen rebel leader Aslan Maskhadov's...

Akhmed Zakayev, one of Chechen rebel leader Aslan Maskhadov's closest associates, was arrested on October 26 in Denmark after Moscow accused him of involvement in the theater siege and other "terror attacks." A Danish court ordered the leading official of the ousted Chechen Government to be held in prison for two weeks, as Russia seeks his extradition. The Russian Procurator-General's Office guaranteed that no capital punishment would be applied to the Chechen exiles' envoy Akhmed Zakayev. A key issue in extradition hearings will be the death penalty, because Danish law forbids extradition to any country which carries out death sentences. Speaking about remarks made by a Danish official that Zakayev may not be extradited to Russia where capital punishment has not been abolished, a Russian Security Council official Valentin Sobolev said: "A moratorium on the death penalty has been in force in Russia for years and we are faithfully abiding by our commitments." "Despite Russia's moves to declare a moratorium on the death penalty, the handover of a person to Russia is not a simple matter because in Russia the death penalty is still applicable," said Denmark's ambassador in Moscow, Lars Vissing. The Russian Justice Ministry has categorically refuted a statement the Danish ambassador to Russia, Lars Vissing, made on the air. "There has been not a single case of capital punishment in Russia since the time the moratorium on capital punishment was declared in 1996", a Justice Ministry spokesman said. However the Russian Procurator-General's Office said it can give additional guarantees to the Danish side that Zakayev would not be executed.
"In addition to moratorium, and in light of Protocol No. 6 of the European Human Rights Convention, the Procurator-General gave written guarantees that capital punishment would not be applied to Zakayev," Robert Adelkhanyan, the Head of the International Law Department of the Procurator-General's Office, told Itar-Tass.
"We also guarantee that, in keeping with the international law, Zakayev will be provided with every means of defence and will not be subjected to any humiliating or inhuman treatment," he added. The Danish Justice Ministry official told ITAR-TASS that Denmark had already extradited suspects to the U.S., which allows 20capital punishment, on the condition that those extradited would not be executed.