Suspects face court over slaying

Rasha Abu Baker

• Last Updated: May 11. 2009 1:29AM UAE / May 10. 2009 9:29PM GMT

Dubai // Two suspects arrested in connection with the murder in Dubai of the former Chechen warlord Sulim Yamadayev, have been referred to public prosecution and are waiting to appear in court, police say.

Makhsod Jan, 38, an Iranian horse trainer who worked in a Dubai stable, and a 32-year-old previously identified by police as Mahdi Lournia, who worked for the tourism company Al Banoosh, were arrested on April 2, five days after Yamadayev was shot dead in the car park of his Dubai apartment block.

A police source said the men were arrested after a raid on the flat they shared in Umm Al Qaiwain and were referred to public prosecution on April 3 after being charged with murder.

“The men have been referred to public prosecution and are being held awaiting a court date,” said the source.

The two men, UAE residents who have been living in the country for several years, have since been in custody and are being investigated pending a trial date, according to the prosecution.

Bur Dubai’s chief prosecutor, Sami al Shamsi, said: “The investigation is with us now and still at its early stages and moving forward.”

Yamadayev, 36, who fought with both the Chechen rebels and Russian militia, was shot in the head at close range as he stepped out of his vehicle and died instantly.

Police say he had moved to Dubai with his wife and six children four months before his assassination. They believe Yamadayev had escaped 19 attempts on his life before he was killed.

Police have accused Adam Delimkhanov, a Russian MP and former Chechen deputy prime minister, of acting as the mastermind behind the attack.

Lt Gen Dahi Khalfan Tamim, chief of Dubai police, alleged last month that the assassination was “a dirty operation of settling scores, of a purely Chechen making, which have been dragged into foreign grounds”.

Arrest warrants for seven other men, including Adam Delimkhanov, have been issued by Interpol following a request from Dubai Police.

The suspects’ names and photographs and other details have been placed on Interpol’s website, listed as wanted for “crimes against life and health”.

The other six are Zelimkhan Mazaev, Elimpasha Khatsuev, Salman Kimayev, Tirpal Kimaev, Ramazan Musiev and Marvan Kimaev. Their professions were not disclosed.

In a statement Interpol said it welcomed the Dubai Police request for it to issue red notices, or international wanted notices, for the seven Russians.

“These men are accused of plotting and carrying out a murder in the United Arab Emirates,” said the Interpol secretary general, Ronald K Noble.

“Circulating their details worldwide on Interpol red notices means that other countries are fully informed and can take any appropriate measures within their own laws to detain or arrest the individuals and therefore protect their own citizens.”



rabubaker@thenational.ae