In the Stavropol Territory Russia's law-enforcement...

In the Stavropol Territory Russia's law-enforcement authorities for the first time officially consented to the sending home of foreigners accused of being mercenaries. The extradited Chinese citizens were: 37-year-old (?Saidi Aishan) and 29-year-old (?Aimei Yurzhang Akumuti). They were detained by the Russian military on March 15 in Chechnya. Sergey Prokopov, a member of staff of the main administration of the Prosecutor-General's Office in the North Caucasus said that if illegal entry into Russia and participation in fighting on the side of the Chechen separatists were proven, a far more severe sentence awaited the defendants in their homeland. In some cases, Chinese legislation even provides for the death penalty for members of bandit groups.