Dagestanâs prosecutorâs office has charged Abdula Aiyev, an ideological assistant of Chechen warlord Shamil Basayev who voluntarily surrendered to the authorities on Monday, with âarmed rebellionâ. A senior aide to the republicâs prosecutor, Ali Temirbekov, told Itar-Tass that Aliyev had already been questioned vigorously on the merits of the case. According to Temirbekov, Aliyev has pled partly guilty.
| The part of him that still worked after he was "questioned". |
Considering Aliyevâs age â he is over 70 â and poor health, the prosecutor has made him give a pledge in writing not to leave the republic. Aliyev, 72, (nom de guerre Adallo) arrived in Dagestan by plane from Istanbul. He was one of the ideological advisors to Chechen extremists, and to Basayevâs gang in particular. Criminal proceedings against Aliyev were instituted immediately after a raid on Dagestan by Basayevâs militants in August 1999. Since then, he has been on Interpolâs international wanted list and has reportedly lived in Turkey all the time.
Meanwhile back at the ranch, an editor of the republicâs weekly Youth of Dagestan, renowned public activist Gadzhi Abashilov, told Itar-Tass that two months ago Aliyev had sent a letter to Dagestani State Council Chairman Magomedali Magomedov. He asked Magomedov to help him return to home. In his letter, Aliyev apologised for what he had done, complained of a heart disease and said he wanted to live and die at home, in his native village of Urada. âAliyev has not used weapons and has not killed people. However, long before the events of 1999, he had publicly declared jihad against Russia in his newspaper The Banner of Islam,â Abashilov said. âOf course, he will be tried as a criminal. However, he will not be arrested before the trial. That is one of conditions on which he has agreed to come back home,â Abashilov added. He said the 72-year-old man was expected to publicly denounce the 1999 aggression against Dagestan by gangs of warlords led by Basayev and Jordanian-born Khattab, to make public apologies to the Dagestani people and the next-of-kin of the raid victims, as well as to pledge not to be engaged in extremist activities in the future. Aliyev could buy a plane ticket after his name had been removed from the Interpol wanted list. He arrived from Istanbul on Sunday night. |