21 April 2004, 22:02
8 years passed since Djokhar Dudayev's death
It is 8 years today since the first Chechen president General Djokhar Dudayev was killed.
According to official data, Dudayev was killed on the outskirts of the village of Gekhi-Chu, Chechnya's Urus-Martan district, on 21 April 1996 by a missile launched from a Russian fighting airplane. At that moment, he was talking with Russian State Duma deputy Konstantin Borovoy via satellite phone about arrangements for peace talks. Military prosecutor Magomed Djaniyev and representative of the Chechen Republic of Ichkeria in Moscow Khamad Kurbanov were killed together with Dudayev.
However, there is also a version that Djokhar Dudayev was killed when the Niva car he used to travel in the republic blew up. Sources close to the family of the killed Ichkerian leader asserted there were suppositions that a Russian special agent had been introduced into the president's close circle. He allegedly drove Dudayev to the place where a high-capacity explosive assembly had been mounted beforehand.
A criminal investigation into the death of the first president of Ichkeria was launched by the Chechen prosecutor's office. But no one has learnt about the course of the investigation and its results. Meanwhile, the opinion still exists in Chechnya that Djokhar Dudayev was badly wounded as a result of the 21 April attempt and lives abroad now.
Author: Sultan Abubakarov, CK correspondent Source: Caucasian Knot
