Two Russian intelligence agents convicted of assassinating a Chechen rebel leader in Qatar will be sent back to their homeland to serve out their life sentences there, the state news agency reported Thursday. The move could ease a strain in relations the case caused between Russia and Qatar, an oil-rich Persian Gulf state closely allied to the United States. The official Qatari news agency quoted an unnamed foreign ministry official as saying the two would be transferred to Russian prisons at the request of the Russian government. In Qatar, time in jail is set at a maximum of 25 years for those sentenced to life.
| In the front door of the Russian prison and out the back to the limo waiting to take them to the welcome home party. |
The two agents were convicted of killing Zelimkhan Yandarbiyev and sentenced in June. The rebel leader and Chechnya's former separatist president was driving from a mosque in Doha on Feb. 13 when a bomb planted in his car exploded. The Qatari court said the killing was carried out with the backing of "Russian leadership" and coordinated between Moscow and the Russian Embassy in Qatar. | Who, it seems, still take care of their own. |
The Russian agents, who have not been officially identified, pleaded not guilty. Russia denied involvement in Yandarbiyev's killing, saying the defendants were gathering intelligence about terrorism. | "That's our story and we're sticking to it." |
Yandarbiyev had been linked to terrorism by Russia, the United States and the United Nations. Prosecutors had sought the death penalty in the case. Yandarbiyev, Chechnya's acting president in 1996-1997, had lived in Qatar since 2000. Moscow had sought his extradition on charges of terrorism and links to al-Qaida, the international terror network. |