Chechen Diaspora concerned about possible extradition to Russia of man accused of Khangoshvili’s murder

A man accused of the murder of Zelimkhan Khangoshvili deserves life imprisonment, but members of the Chechen Diaspora fear that even in case of such a sentence, the convict may be extradited to Russia.

The “Caucasian Knot” has reported that at a court hearing held in October, a witness said that the man accused of the murder of Zelimkhan Khangoshvili was Vadim Krasikov, an agent of the Russian special services.

Public prosecutors requested a life sentence for Vadim Krasikov, the German newspaper Die Zeit reported on December 7.

In a conversation with the “Caucasian Knot” correspondent, Chechen refugee Musa Lomaev, living in Finland, expressed his fears that the murderer of Zelimkhan Khangoshvili might be deported to Russia. “Unfortunately, there have already been precedents when detained intelligence officers were convicted and then exchanged for other persons. It is difficult to say what the Russian Federation offers when bargaining such cases, but it is obvious that Russia has an interest in protecting such people,” Musa Lomaev said.

According to Khusein Iskhanov, the head of the “Ichkeria” cultural association in Vienna, many members of the Chechen Diaspora, which numbers 300,000 people in Europe, fear that Vadim Krasikov will be extradited to Russia.

“The entire Chechen Diaspora hopes that he will not be extradited to Russia. There is reason to fear. After the murder of Zelimkhan Yandarbiev in Qatar, when Yandarbiev was a personal guest of the king, two perpetrators of the crime were also detained. They were agents of the Russian special services, and they were also sentenced to life imprisonment. However, after several years, they were extradited to Russia on the condition that they would be serving the rest of their sentences there. But, of course, they were not imprisoned in Russia: they were greeted with a red carpet, and that was shown on Russian TV Channels.,” Khusein Iskhanov emphasized.

This article was originally published on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’ on December 8, 2021 at 05:27 pm MSK. To access the full text of the article, click here.