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| International |
| Russers cheesed with Soddies over Chechen hijackers... |
| 2002-07-31 |
| The Russian general prosecution is not satisfied with the mild sentence Saudi Arabia gave two hijackers of a Russian Tu-154 airliner, Deni Magomerzayev and Iriskhan Arsayev, who have been sentenced to 6 and 4 years respectively. The verdict "does not correspond to the gravity of the crime committed", the information and public relations department of the Russian Prosecutor General's Office said on Wednesday. The office is considering the possibilities of extraditing the offenders, it added. On March 15, 2001 three Chechens, 45-year old Supjan Arsayev and his two sons, 16 and 19 years of age, hijacked a Tupolev-154 jet with 174 people on board making a flight from Istanbul to Moscow. The terrorists threatened the crew with knives and a dummy explosive device and forced the plane to land in Medina, Saudi Arabia. The Chechens demanded an end to the war in Chechnya and also USD 1 million in cash. Saudi commandos strormed the plane, killing the organizer of hijack and two hostages – a Russian air hostess and a passenger, who was a Turkish citizen. The aircraft with the passengers then returned to Russia and the hijackers remained in a Saudi prison, as there is no extradition treaty between the two countries. Chechnya is a Soddy project. They're not going to be any harder on their proteges than they have to be. |
| Posted by:Fred Pruitt |