19 January 2013, 23:00
Ahmed Chataev in Georgia acknowledged guiltless
City court of Tbilisi acquitted citizen of the Russian Federation Ahmed Chataev detained during a special operation in Lopota gorge, lawyer Nino Andriashvili reported.
“The court decided to acquit Chataev after Public Prosecutor exculpated him completely”, Andriashvili said.
Chataev was detained in September of 2012 in Lopota gorge where the Ministry of Interior Affairs of Georgia was carrying out an operation of liquidation of gunmen. He was incriminated in illegal storage of an explosive device. His attorneys called the charges unlawful stating that Chataev arrived in Lopota gorge for negotiation and was detained.
According to Chataev, three witnesses who were frontier guards came to the trail on January, 18. “It was them who found me. They said I had no grenades”, “Novosti-Georgia” quotes him.
He said that after that he was planning to go to Austria where he had a political refugee status, “Georgia Online” reports.
Ethnic Chechen Ahmed Chataev had a wanted notice from law enforcement bodies who considered him leader of gunmen Doku Umarov’s representative in Western Europe since 2003. The Ministry of Interior Affairs of the Russian Federation placed the information of Chataev in the Interpol database, however the Ministry of Justice of Georgia refused to extradite Chataev to Russia.
