Georgia Extradites 13 North Caucasus Residents To Russia

Thirteen residents of the North Caucasus have been extradited to Russia today. They were detained by Georgian border guards for transgressing the Russo-Georgian border and are suspected of terrorist activities on Russian territory. At about 10:15 am, Moscow time, the 13 detainees, who mostly come from Kabardino-Balkaria /a North Caucasus republic within the Russian Federation/, were convoyed by Georgia's justice ministry special unit to the airport of Tbilisi and then transported to Russia. These armed militants had transgressed the Kabardin section of the Russo-Georgian frontier June 6 and illegally penetrated in the Mesty district of Georgia. There Georgia's border guards detained the gang and confiscated its arms. Until recently, the arrested Russian citizens were kept in the detention centre of Georgia's state security ministry. The investigative group has been probing into the transgression case and identifying the detainees for four entire months. During this period, the Russian party repeatedly appealed to the Georgian leadership to extradite the detainees referring to their alleged involvement in some crimes on Russia's territory. In particular, four arrestees are suspected of having relation to the terrorist act in Mineralnye Vody /Stavropol Territory, North Caucasus/ on March 24, 2001. Georgia's top law-enforcers would long refuse to meet Russia's demands. The extradition was agreed upon this week after Russian representatives had negotiated the issue with Georgia's prosecutors.