Georgia's Supreme Court to Examine Russian Extradition Request Today

On Thursday the Georgian Supreme Court will pass its final sentence on three Chechens, i.e. Islam Mulkoyev, Temur Baimurzayev and Adlen Usmanov.

Officials at the Tbilisi district court say that this court had ruled the other day that a lawsuit, filed by the three Chechens, didn't tally with its prerogatives. Consequently, it was decided to submit that lawsuit to the republican Supreme Court for subsequent examination. The three men requested political asylum from President Eduard Shevardnadze of Georgia.

The Georgian Prosecutor-General's Office decided to extradite Mulkoyev, Baimurzayev and Usmanov in early 2003, what with the Tbilisi district court ruling that the first two Chechens were subject to extradition. Meanwhile, the court ruling noted that Usmanov could not be extradited to Russia because of his refugee status.

Georgian border guards detained 13 Chechens along the Chechen sector of the Georgian-Russian border in mid-2002. Five of them have already been extradited to Russia. Meanwhile, the republican Prosecutor-General's Office recognized two of them as Georgian citizens. Besides, the republican Prosecutor-General's Office didn't receive any identification papers on the afore-said three Chechens from Russian authorities. The Georgian Supreme Court will decide the future of Baimurzayev, Mulkoyev and Usmanov May 8th.