Brussels against Zakayev's extradition to Belgium. Belgium toughens procedures for granting refugee status to ethnic Chechens.

Brussels, Dec 3, 2002.

According to Belgian deputies, the country's Foreign Minister has spoken against the possibility of extraditing Akhmed Zakayev, an envoy of Chechen elected president Aslan Maskhadov, to Belgium and granting him political asylum. Zakayev is currently in Denmark.

Belgian deputies told Interfax on Tuesday that the country's experts found Russia's evidence of Zakayev's criminal activities more than convincing and relevant.*

The source noted that Brussels made it clear that Zakayev's extradition to Belgium would be very undesirable. According to earlier reports, the Danish authorities refused to extradite Zakayev to Russia. The sources said that the Belgian government decided to toughen procedures for granting refugee status to ethnic Chechens, as it fears that Chechen terrorists may enter the country. Zakayev entered Denmark from Belgium with a Belgian-issued Schengen visa in his passport. According to the current law, Denmark's authorities have to send Zakayev back to Belgium or grant him asylum if they refuse to extradite him to Russia.

Interfax

* Webauthor's note: shortly after this statement, Danish authorities officially declared that Russian's "evidences" against Akhmar Zakayev were "insufficient" and were based on unreliable testimonies. Zakhayev had been released and was free to move in or out of Denmark. The only reason behind Belgian's authorities attitude, together with its statement that it would increase the pressure on ethnic Chechens, was that they simply didn't want to displease the Russian government.