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Dubai accuses ally of Chechnya leader in slaying
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DUBAI, United Arab Emirates – Dubai authorities accused a close ally of Chechnya's Kremlin-backed president on Sunday of masterminding the brazen midday assassination of a decorated Chechen war veteran.
The allegation could have broad implications for Ramzan Kadyrov, a former rebel now closely allied with Moscow and its campaign to quell a 14-year insurrection in Chechnya.
Sulim Yamadayev, one of Kadyrov's bitter foes, was gunned down March 28 outside a busy residential complex along Dubai's shoreline. His slaying was the latest in a string of assassinations targeting Chechen renegades in and outside of Russia.
Dubai Police Chief Lt. Gen. Dahi Khalfan Tamim said Chechen authorities have not cooperated with the investigation, and "Russia is also responsible for untying the knot of this crime."
Two men, an Iranian and a Tajik, who allegedly took part in the killing were in custody and four other suspects fled to Russia, Tamim told reporters. None has been charged.
Tamim said one of the four suspects was Adam Delimkhanov, a Chechen member of Russia's lower house who is considered one of Kadyrov's close friends and part of his inner circle.
One of suspects in custody told Dubai authorities that Delimkhanov planned the slaying, Tamim said. One of the suspects also said Delimkhanov's guards provided him the gun used to kill Yamadayev, the police chief said.
"Our investigation found him (Delimkhanov) to be the mastermind of the assassination of Sulim Yamadayev," Tamim said. The police chief said Dubai will seek Interpol's help in arresting Delimkhanov and the other three suspects on the run.
Delimkhanov told Russian news agencies that he would cooperate but said the investigation was flawed.
"The announcement of the Dubai police chief is a provocation and is aimed at destabilizing Chechen society," he was quoted by RIA-Novosti as saying. "The police were unable to conduct a quality investigation. ... I am prepared to cooperate with the investigation into this crime and will answer all concrete questions. However, I will demand accountability for this clear slander as the law dictates."
Yamadayev's killing was the first politically motivated slaying in glitzy Dubai, and Tamim said there would be "no immunity in the United Arab Emirates for anybody who orders or masterminds a murder."
"It's very clear to us that the assassination of Sulim Yamadayev is a purely Chechen operation, which indicates settling scores in the UAE," the police chief said.
It was not clear what Yamadayev was doing in Dubai, but the authorities said he arrived to the emirate four months ago on a Russian passport issued in the name of Sulaiman Madov.
Dubai police did not confirm the slain man was Yamadayev until days after the killing, suggesting that authorities were not aware a bitter opponent to the Kremlin-backed Chechen president had been living here.
In his homeland, he was a contentious figure. Once a rebel leader battling Russia, he later switched sides and led a battalion of former rebels alongside the pro-Russian government.
But he had long-running tensions with Chechnya's current Kremlin-backed president, Kadyrov, which exploded in April. Kadyrov accused Yamadayev of involvement in abductions and murders, and an arrest warrant for him was issued.
Yamadayev and his family left Russia after his brother Ruslan was shot and killed during a busy afternoon rush hour in September just steps away from Russia's main government building in Moscow.
Kadyrov inherited his position from his father, Akhmad Kadyrov, a Muslim cleric and former rebel commander who fought the Russians during Chechnya's war of independence in 1994-1996. Shortly after war broke out again in 1999, the elder Kadyrov switched sides and brought Chechnya back into Moscow's fold.
Ramzan Kadyrov worked as the head of his father's security force, which was accused of kidnapping, sadistic torture and murder. After Akhmad Kadyrov was killed by a terrorist bomb in 2004, power passed to his son. Vladimir Putin, then Russian president and now prime minister, embraced the younger Kadyrov, who quelled a wave of terror attacks that haunted the early years of Putin's presidency. But many of his critics and political rivals have been killed as Kadyrov has consolidated his power. Some have been gunned down on the streets of Moscow, including journalist Anna Politkovskaya, whose death in 2006 shocked the world.
In January, a former bodyguard of Kadyrov was shot dead in Vienna after filing a criminal complaint against the president in June, accusing him of torture. Kadyrov has denied any involvement in the killings.
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DUBAI, United Arab Emirates – Dubai authorities accused a close ally of Chechnya's Kremlin-backed president on Sunday of masterminding the brazen midday assassination of a decorated Chechen war veteran.
The allegation could have broad implications for Ramzan Kadyrov, a former rebel now closely allied with Moscow and its campaign to quell a 14-year insurrection in Chechnya.
Sulim Yamadayev, one of Kadyrov's bitter foes, was gunned down March 28 outside a busy residential complex along Dubai's shoreline. His slaying was the latest in a string of assassinations targeting Chechen renegades in and outside of Russia.
Dubai Police Chief Lt. Gen. Dahi Khalfan Tamim said Chechen authorities have not cooperated with the investigation, and "Russia is also responsible for untying the knot of this crime."
Two men, an Iranian and a Tajik, who allegedly took part in the killing were in custody and four other suspects fled to Russia, Tamim told reporters. None has been charged.
Tamim said one of the four suspects was Adam Delimkhanov, a Chechen member of Russia's lower house who is considered one of Kadyrov's close friends and part of his inner circle.
One of suspects in custody told Dubai authorities that Delimkhanov planned the slaying, Tamim said. One of the suspects also said Delimkhanov's guards provided him the gun used to kill Yamadayev, the police chief said.
"Our investigation found him (Delimkhanov) to be the mastermind of the assassination of Sulim Yamadayev," Tamim said. The police chief said Dubai will seek Interpol's help in arresting Delimkhanov and the other three suspects on the run.
Delimkhanov told Russian news agencies that he would cooperate but said the investigation was flawed.
"The announcement of the Dubai police chief is a provocation and is aimed at destabilizing Chechen society," he was quoted by RIA-Novosti as saying. "The police were unable to conduct a quality investigation. ... I am prepared to cooperate with the investigation into this crime and will answer all concrete questions. However, I will demand accountability for this clear slander as the law dictates."
Yamadayev's killing was the first politically motivated slaying in glitzy Dubai, and Tamim said there would be "no immunity in the United Arab Emirates for anybody who orders or masterminds a murder."
"It's very clear to us that the assassination of Sulim Yamadayev is a purely Chechen operation, which indicates settling scores in the UAE," the police chief said.
It was not clear what Yamadayev was doing in Dubai, but the authorities said he arrived to the emirate four months ago on a Russian passport issued in the name of Sulaiman Madov.
Dubai police did not confirm the slain man was Yamadayev until days after the killing, suggesting that authorities were not aware a bitter opponent to the Kremlin-backed Chechen president had been living here.
In his homeland, he was a contentious figure. Once a rebel leader battling Russia, he later switched sides and led a battalion of former rebels alongside the pro-Russian government.
But he had long-running tensions with Chechnya's current Kremlin-backed president, Kadyrov, which exploded in April. Kadyrov accused Yamadayev of involvement in abductions and murders, and an arrest warrant for him was issued.
Yamadayev and his family left Russia after his brother Ruslan was shot and killed during a busy afternoon rush hour in September just steps away from Russia's main government building in Moscow.
Kadyrov inherited his position from his father, Akhmad Kadyrov, a Muslim cleric and former rebel commander who fought the Russians during Chechnya's war of independence in 1994-1996. Shortly after war broke out again in 1999, the elder Kadyrov switched sides and brought Chechnya back into Moscow's fold.
Ramzan Kadyrov worked as the head of his father's security force, which was accused of kidnapping, sadistic torture and murder. After Akhmad Kadyrov was killed by a terrorist bomb in 2004, power passed to his son. Vladimir Putin, then Russian president and now prime minister, embraced the younger Kadyrov, who quelled a wave of terror attacks that haunted the early years of Putin's presidency. But many of his critics and political rivals have been killed as Kadyrov has consolidated his power. Some have been gunned down on the streets of Moscow, including journalist Anna Politkovskaya, whose death in 2006 shocked the world.
In January, a former bodyguard of Kadyrov was shot dead in Vienna after filing a criminal complaint against the president in June, accusing him of torture. Kadyrov has denied any involvement in the killings.