According to Prosecutor-General of Turkmenia, three Chechens participated in assassination attempt on Turkmen President

Three Chechens participated in the assassination attempt on president of Turkmenia Saparmurat Niyazov on November 25th, 2002, Prosecutor-General of the republic Kurbanbibi Atadzhanova stated speaking on national television.

According to her, they are Ruslan Sadullayev, Amirbek Bishoyev and Magambet Nuraliyev who arrived in Ashgabat from Baku late in May, 2002.

She also claimed that one of the main organisers of the assassination attempt - former Vice-Premier of Turkmenia Boris Shikhmuradov - "staying on the territory of the Russian Federation, from the beginning of this year prepared to commit this grave crime". As she said, he "wanted to take power in Turkmenistan in his hands with the use of force, and to change the existing constitutional political system by means of force." The Prosecutor-General claimed that Shikhmuradov together with ex-Ambassador of Turkmenia to Turkey Nurmukhamed Khanamov, former Vice-Premier and head of the Central Bank Khudaiberdy Orazov, and former Deputy Minister of Agriculture Saparmurat Yklymov had taken control over the financing of the criminal group's activity. "The mercenaries were paid 500 U.S. dollars a month, and a payment of 25,000 dollars was promised to them in case of successful completion of the operation, and if any of them were hurt during the operation their families would have received 50,000 dollars each," she stated.

According to her, the members of the criminal group bought in Russia arms and other means for committing the crime and illegally carried them to Turkmenia "in caches in transit vans".

Furthermore, six Turks, an Armenian, citizens of Turkmenistan, and "a mercenary from Moldova with an American passport" participated in the assassination attempt, the Prosecutor-General said.

According to her, "a criminal case was launched against the ill-minded persons, and they were found guilty" under a number of articles of the Criminal Code of Turkmenia which envisage, in particular, a punishment for organising a criminal community or participating in it, making and keeping arms, making an attempt on the president's life, collusion with a view to seizing power, terrorism, and an intentional attempt on the life of an individual.