Routine court session in London on Akhmed Zakayev case to determine the date of next hearing

A routine court session on the extradition of Akhmed Zakayev from Britain to Russia to be held in London on Thursday will only determine the date of the next hearing, deputy prosecutor general of the Russian Federation Sergei Fridinsky told RIA Novosti.

He explained that the British Home Office had not issued the instruction on the beginning of the extradition procedure. This will be done before January 30th. That is why the routine session scheduled for January 9th will be only "technical" in its form, said the Russian deputy prosecutor general.

RIA Novosti was told at the Bow Street court secretariat that the session, which among other things will also consider the extradition of the Chechen militants' emissary, will begin at 11.00 am, local time (2 pm Moscow time). Judge Timothy Workman, who at the first session on December 11th permitted that Zakayev be free during the period of court sessions, had the warranty of the British actress Vanesse Redrave who made a guarantee warrant of 50,000 pounds sterling.

Sergei Fridinsky told journalists in London on January 8th that the Russian general prosecutor's office has given to the British side all the necessary materials for solving the issue of Zakayev's extradition. These materials, supplemented by the protocols of interrogations of the victims and witnesses, also include the obligation of the Russian side not to sentence Zakayev to capital punishment, the deputy prosecutor general pointed out.

In addition, he said, the Russian side held consultations and negotiations with the Crown Prosecutive Service of Britain and with the lawyer, who will conduct this case, shortly before the routine court session. This has been done so that the British side should not have "technical difficulties in representing and interpreting the materials which were sent to it to substantiate the extradition of Zakayev to Russia," explained Fridinsky.

He believes that the process of Zakayev's extradition will take a lot of time and explained this by the practice of court proceedings to solve such cases set up in Britain.