Russia must not hinder the pursuit of justice

• Last Updated: April 07. 2009 9:30AM UAE / April 7. 2009 5:30AM GMT

A senior Chechen politician has been implicated in a political assassination on UAE soil, a grave violation of the nation’s sovereignty.

Dubai police have accused Adam Delimkhanov, a member of the Russian parliament and first cousin of the Chechen president, of planning the March 28 murder of Sulim Yamadayev based on the testimony of two suspects already in custody.

Yamadayev, a former Chechen military commander, had been considered a marked man since the murder of his brother last summer and speculation was already rife that the Dubai shooting was linked to an internal Chechen power struggle. It must be said that Mr Delimkhanov now stands accused and not convicted, but the police have presented a substantial case against him and Russia must be held to account for the conduct of its citizens.

The UAE must not tolerate such thuggery, political or otherwise, within its borders. This is the second time in the past year that Dubai police have been tested with a high-profile murder involving foreigners, and law enforcement has not been found wanting.

The murder of the Lebanese singer Suzan Tamim last July, also in Jumeirah Beach Residence, was followed by a rapid investigation that yielded substantial evidence implicating Hisham Talaat Moustafa, one of Egypt’s richest men and an influential figure in the ruling National Democratic Party, who along with an alleged accomplice faces the verdict of an Egyptian court on May 21.

The authorities’ quick response, professional conduct and pursuit of justice showing neither fear nor favour towards these powerful figures reflects well on the judicial system and the nation as a whole.

On the other hand, Yamadayev’s life, as well his death, exposes serious faults within the Russian polity. A military commander who fought on both sides of the Chechen conflict, he had been accused of war crimes including civilian killings, kidnapping and torture but nonetheless was lavished with the top laurels of the Russian federation. Another casualty of that conflict, the reporter Anna Politskaya who wrote scathingly about the Russian military’s conduct, is one of many journalists whose unsolved murders also blight Moscow’s record.

While the violence inside the country’s borders deserves international opprobrium, when those conflicts spill over into other countries it is a matter of law. Since September, six Chechen exiles including Yamadayev have been killed, with assassins stalking the streets of Vienna and Istanbul in addition to Dubai. Britain, too, has been afflicted with a rash of murders stemming from Russia’s political machinations. The most recent sensational case was the November 2006 poisoning of the former KGB agent Alexander Litvinenko, who died after being exposed to radioactive polonium-210 in London. Russia refused to extradite Scotland Yard’s prime suspect in the case, Andrei Lugovoi, another ex-KGB agent who has since been elected to parliament.

The Chechen president, Ramzan Kadyrov, had promised that his government would co-operate with the investigation of Yamadayev’s murder, but the Russian prosecutor general’s office has already responded to the new evidence with a refusal to extradite Mr Delimkhanov.

Time will tell if Moscow ignores international norms. These crimes will remain as stains on national integrity until they are resolved. “Russia must move and take a firm position to rein in these killers,” says Lt Gen Dahi Khalfan Tamim, the head of Dubai police. “Anyone who violates our security will face justice.”