By Georgy Kalatozishvili, Tbilisi. Exclusively for Vestnik Kavkaza
The Georgian Prosecutor General’s Office has denied reports attributed to Russian media sources about Moscow’s request for the extradition of Chechen native Yusup Lakayev, the suspected murderer of Russian diplomat Dmitry Vishernev. Lakayev’s lawyer insists that his client has not been questioned in Tbilisi over the murder of Vishernev and that he will be under trial for illegal border-crossing, storage of weapons and armed resistance against the police.
Khatuna Paichadze, head of the PR department of the Georgian Prosecutor General’s Office, said: “Something strange is going on in the Russian mass media. They keep spreading false information about some request of Moscow for extradition of Lakayev.” According to Paichadze, “no documents, questions, requests or any messages, information or signals regarding Lakayev have been received by Georgian prosecutors from Moscow.”
“Officially, we know nothing about Russian law enforcers pressing charges against Lakayev as murderer of some Vishernev. We would have certainly studied all materials of the case if our Russian fellows sent us any,” noted the department head. Concerning extradition of Lakayev to Russia, Paichadze said: “Even if we receive a request for extradition, it needs to undergo a long procedure and maybe eventually the matter will be resolved by the court.”
Meanwhile, Lakayev’s lawyer Koba Jabua expresses confidence that his client will not be extradited to Russia: “We admit guilt for crossing the border illegally and storing weapons and we are preparing for trial.” The lawyer confirmed that Lakayev “was asked no questions about murder of a diplomat in Sukhumi” during questioning. Commenting on extradition of his client to Russia, Jabua expressed confidence that “the Georgian side will not hand him over because the European Council for Refugees and Exiles recommended European states not to extradite ethnic Chechens.”
Yusup Lakayev was arrested in Batumi on September 13, after a shootout with the local police. Lakayev and two local Wahhabis was planning to secretly flee to Turkey. Russian and Abkhaz law enforcers assure that Yusup Lakayev murdered Dmitry Vishernev, vice consul and first secretary of the Russian Embassy in Abkhazia, in an attack on the Nazadze Street in Sukumi on September 9, 2013, after which he moved to Georgia.
