Chechen terrorist leader Aslan Maskhadov buried in nameless grave

Aslan Maskhadov's family originally strived for the delivery of the terrorist's body

The body of the Chechen terrorist leader, Aslan Maskhadov, who was killed by the Russian special forces in Chechnya on March 8th, 2005, was finally buried on April 22nd. The burial ceremony was conducted according to the functioning law about terrorism. The former fugitive president of the Chechen republic was buried in a nameless grave. Furthermore, the place of the burial is not to be exposed either, Nikolai Shepel, deputy Prosecutor General of Russia in the Southern administrative district said.

Aslan Maskhadov was put on the federal wanted list (in March of 2000) on charges connected with the organization of an armed mutiny in Chechnya. Russian special troops could not trace Maskhadov's whereabouts for a long period of time; Maskhadov became an internationally wanted criminal in 2002. The fugitive leader of Chechen separatists was subsequently charged with preparing the terrorist act in Beslan, when hundreds of innocent children were taken hostage.

The Russian special forces did not even try to capture Maskhadov in Chechnya on March 8th of the current year: the terrorist was successfully destroyed in the settlement of Tolstoi-Yurt in a special operation. 

Specialists identified Aslan Maskhadov's body twice in the course of two examination procedures. Specialists of the Central Laboratory of the Russian Defense Ministry stated that the examination, which included the genetic expertise as well, confirmed the previous identification with 100-percent precision.

Aslan Maskhadov's family originally strived for the delivery of the terrorist's body for the family burial. They particularly asserted that their relative could not be considered a terrorist. They said that Aslan Maskhadov was an honest politician, who periodically condemned terrorism himself. State Duma deputy Akhmar Zavgayev supported the idea of delivering Maskhadov's body to his relatives. The deputy believed that one could make an exception from the law in the case with the killed Chechen leader. However, the government did not consider it possible to comply with the request from Aslan Maskhadov's relative and representatives of the Chechen diaspora. As a result, the separatist leader was buried strictly according to the law.