The body of Chechen terrorist number 2 to be officially exhumed for expertise

Salman Raduyev, “terrorist number 2,” was renowned as a “talking head” in the terrorist environment

The Federal Service for the Execution of Punishments is ready to exhume the body of the Chechen warlord, Salman Raduyev. It was decided to carry out the infamous process in order to exclude all rumors about Raduev's violent death in a Russian prison. “The service is ready to exhume Raduyev's body for any kind of expertise,” the director of the service said.

Salman Raduyev, who was known as “terrorist number 2,” died on 15 December 2002 in the “White Swan” correctional colony in the Perm region of Russia. The colony is meant for extremely dangerous criminals sentenced to capital punishment – lifetime imprisonment (Russia has a death penalty moratorium in effect). Raduyev was convicted on 25 December 2001. The Supreme Court of Russia refused to revise the sentence of the terrorist in April of the current year.

Salman Raduyev was born on 13 February 1967 in Gudermes, Chechnya. According to his own words, he excelled in secondary school and then graduated from an economic department. Raduyev became a member of the Communist Party during his service in the army.

Raduyev commanded the so-called General Jokhar Dudayev's Army during the first Chechen war. He became known after the incursion in the town of Kizlyar in Dagestan in January of 1996. Raduyev was a very conceited person; Shamil Basayev's fame gave him no rest. Raduyev would claim responsibility for all terrorist acts, which were performed in Russia and threaten with new terrorist attacks. However, the guerrilla quickly won the reputation of a “talking head.”

Raduyev's escapades deprived him of all his authority among terrorists. His ambition to leadership ended up in a series of attempted assassinations in April, July and October of 1997. Salman Raduyev vanished from the public eye for a certain period of time afterwards. As it was revealed later, he was operated on in Germany – the operations had a very negative influence on the unstable mind of the “general.”

When the counter-terrorist operation was launched in Chechnya in 1999, Raduyev and a group of his gunmen took part in battles with Russian federal forces. The terrorist's gang was virtually destroyed after several significant failures. It is noteworthy that he stopped talking about new terrorist attacks that he was going to organize in the Russian Federation.

Agents of the Russian Federal Security Bureau arrested Salman Raduyev on 13 March 2000 and delivered him to a detention center in Moscow. The terrorist was sentenced to lifetime imprisonment 18 months later.