Brussels, 25 March 2004. Ahmed Zakaiev, the ChechenMinister of Culture and special representative ofPresident Maskhadov, visited Berlin at the end ofJanuary on the invitation of two members of theBundestag. His journey to German was made possible bythe intervention of the German Foreign Minister,Joskha Fischer, who decided that the rejection of theRussian application for his extradition by the Britishand Danish courts, and subsequently the granting ofpolitical asylum by the British authorities, renderednull and void the Interpol arrest warrant on his head.

Question by Olivier Dupuis, Member of the EuropeanParliament, Radical, to the Council:

"Does the Council not agree that in the case of MrZakaiev it should decide that the international arrestwarrant against him must be considered null and voidfor the 15 Member States of the Union and also, as of1 May 2004, for the 10 candidate countries? If so,does the Council not agree that it should informInterpol of this decision? More generally, does theCouncil not agree that the decision by the Germanauthorities – who decided to consider the rejection ofan application for extradition by the Court of aMember State to be applicable in the territory of theFederal Republic of Germany - should constitute ajuridical precedent throughout the Union: in otherwords any application for extradition turned down bythe courts in one Member State should automatically beconsidered null and void in all the Member States?"

www.radicalparty.org

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Olivier Dupuis Member of the European Parliament http://www.radicalparty.org/

tel. +32 2 284 7198fax +32 2 284 9198