David Hearst
Tuesday September 9, 2003
The Guardian
A key witness in Russia's attempt to extradite a Chechen leader from Britain described how he had been kept in a mud-filled pit for six days by Russian soldiers and tortured continuously before being paraded on television. Duk-Vakha Doshuyev, a former bodyguard of the Chechen leader Akhmed Zakayev, told Bow Street magistrates how he had been forced to sign a statement and learn it off by heart. He was then led before the cameras in fresh clothes to denounce Mr Zakayev as a warlord and kidnapper.
"I haven't the words, even in Russian, to explain to you what it felt like," Mr Doshuyev said. His appearance for the defence is a proving to be a key part of Mr Zakayev's battle to avoid extradition to Russia.
Mr Zakayev, 44, who took office after elections in the breakaway republic in 1997 and became the main peace envoy of the rebel president Aslan Maskhadov, was arrested at Heathrow airport in December last year after winning a court battle against extradition in Denmark.
He faces 13 counts of belonging to an armed group, participating in a firing squad, taking part in the torture of a suspected informer and kidnapping two orthodox priests.
The hearing continues.
Witness: I Was Forced to Confess
A key witness in the extradition case of Akhmed Zakayev said Monday that he signed a statement accusing Zakayev of kidnapping only after being held in a pit. Ducquar Dushuyev was questioned about his change of evidence in Bow Street Magistrate's Court by British lawyers acting on behalf of Moscow. Dushuyev told the court Monday that he was arrested in November 2002 and taken into Russian custody where he was tortured before signing a statement saying Zakayev had ordered the kidnapping of two priests.
Khawar Qureshi, the Crown Prosecution Service lawyer acting on behalf of Russian authorities, contended that Dushuyev gave himself up to avoid punishment for his crimes. "You were never arrested. You were never held in a pit. You gave this evidence of your own free will," Qureshi said. Dushuyev replied: "I gave this evidence when I was in that pit. I spent six days there in the pit." Dushuyev told the court he left Chechnya after his release and contacted Zakayev's defense to offer assistance. He said he does not intend to claim asylum.
[09.09.2003
11:13] AP - The Chechen Times
The
Associated Press Sep. 9, 2003
Witness Says He Fled to Save Self
LONDON -- A key witness in the extradition case of Chechen rebel envoy
Akhmed Zakayev told a British court Tuesday that he fled Chechnya
after being told he would be killed.
Ducquar Dushuyev told Bow Street Magistrates' Court that he was imprisoned
for two months after being interrogated by Russian agents, despite
being told he would be allowed to go free if he signed a statement
implicating Zakayev in a kidnapping plot.
Dushuyev signed a document in December 2002 saying that Zakayev had
ordered the kidnapping of two priests.
The statement had been expected to play a major part in the extradition
case against Zakayev, but Dushuyev retracted it at a hearing in July,
saying he had only given it after being tortured by agents from the
Federal Security Service, or FSB.
Dushuyev told the court Tuesday he was released in January 2003 and
he immediately fled Chechnya to an undisclosed country after an agent
warned him he would be killed.
"He said 'Listen, if you want to stay alive, leave today, because
what they want to do is kill you and blame it on Zakayev.' So I left
that very day," Dushuyev told the court through an interpreter.
British lawyers acting for the Russian government have questioned
Dushuyev's change of evidence, contending that he have himself up
to Russian authorities to avoid punishment for his own involvement
in crime and that he had told the truth in the December statement.
Konstantin Krivorotov, the Russian government lawyer responsible for
taking the statement, told the court it was freely given and he saw
no injuries to Dushuyev, who gave evidence that he was held in a pit
for six days and beaten by FSB agents for six days before he gave
the statement.
"Dushuyev showed no signs of being upset or worried. I personally
on visible parts of his body saw no signs of any beating or no signs
of any physical violence being perpetrated on him," Krivorotov told
the court through an interpreter. "The story he told was consistent
and it was logical, which gave us the immediate impression that Dushuyev
was being open and honest."
Prosecution lawyer James Lewis requested that Dushuyev surrender his
two passports to immigration authorities for esting on their authenticity.
He said the prosecution believed Dushuyev had never been issued a
valid Russian passport. Defense lawyers have requested that Dushuyev's
passports not be made public to avoid revealing the country where
he lives.
The Russian government alleges that Zakayev was a senior Chechen rebel
military commander who helped kill at least 300 Russian security personnel
during the 1990s. He faces 13 charges, including kidnapping and murder,
if extradited from Britain.
Zakayev denies all the charges.