ACPC Co-Chairs Welcome Decision on Zakayev Extradition
Washington, DC: November 13, 2003 5:00 p.m. EDT

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Daniel A. Pellathy, Tel. 202.364.2466

ACPC co-chairs, Dr. Zbigniew Brzezinski, Gen. Alexander M. Haig Jr., and former Congressman Stephen J. Solarz today welcomed the recent decision by the British courts to reject the requested extradition of Chechen Vice Premier Akhmed Zakayev.

“The British verdict is a powerful indictment of Putin's criminal policies in Chechnya and indirectly also of those in the West and in Washington who have been noticeably silent on this subject,” said Brzezinski.

The prosecution on behalf of the Russian Federation sought to extradite Zakayev to Russia, where he would then have faced criminal charges. However, in the view of London’s Bow Street Magistrates Court, the Russian government was seeking extradition for the purposes of “prosecuting Mr. Zakayev on account of his political opinions.”

“Today’s decision has exonerated one of the most important advocates of peace in Chechnya,” commented ACPC Executive Director Glen E. Howard. “It has dealt a stinging rebuke to those who would wish to marginalize and alienate the political leadership of the Chechen resistance movement by characterizing all Chechens as terrorists.”

A trusted emissary of Chechen president Aslan Maskhadov, Zakayev flew to Moscow in November 2001 for peace talks with Moscow’s official representative to the North Caucasus, Victor Kazantsev.

“Official representatives of Maskhadov and the political wing of the Chechen resistance movement such as Zakayev are the only avenues through which a legitimate peace settlement can be achieved,” concluded Howard.

Founded in 1999, the American Committee for Peace in Chechnya (ACPC) is a bipartisan coalition of distinguished Americans dedicated to promoting a peaceful end to the war in Chechnya.