1998 abduction of foreign engineers in Chechnya
Encyclopedia
The 1998 abduction of foreign engineers took place when four United Kingdom
-based specialists were seized by unidentified Chechen
gunmen in Grozny
, the capital of Russia
's breakaway republic of Chechnya
. After more than two months in captivity, all four men were found brutally murdered, reportedly following a failed rescue bid by the Chechen separatist security forces. As of 2009, no one has been tried in this case.
The victims were three Britons
: Peter Kennedy (46) of Hereford
, Darren Hickey (27) from Surrey
, Rudi Petschi (42) of Devon
, and New Zealand
-born Stan Shaw (58). The four men had been working for Granger Telecom, a British
telecommunication
company which had won a £183m contract for the separatist government-run company Chechentelekom to install telephone lines, satellite links
and a mobile phone system throughout the war-ravaged republic; the work was suspended after the four men were kidnapped
.
The slayings were a major blow to the efforts of the breakaway Chechen Republic of Ichkeria
(ChRI) to gain international recognition of its independence
. Kidnappings had become common in Chechnya since the end of the First Chechen War
in 1996, as the ruined region's fledging separatist government failed to maintain law and order, but the hostage
s at the time were rarely killed, and no other kidnapped foreigners were murdered.
-speaking men captured four foreign worker
s from their home, located in the vicinity of the headquarters of the Chechen security team specifically tasked with fighting the plague of kidnappings in the republic. The attackers fought a brief gun battle with one of the victims' lightly armed local bodyguards (according to Chechen officials the other five bodyguards did not open fire) and one member of the gang was reportedly wounded. Nevertheless, the anti-kidnapping unit's officers did not react to the shooting, allegedly because they were not aware of the presence of the foreigners at the house, and the sound of gunfire was frequent in Grozny at night.
All the law enforcement agencies
of ChRI
got involved in the search for the victims. More than 60 other hostages were released as Chechen officials launched raids on the homes of suspected kidnappers, but the missing engineers were not found. During the crackdown, several suspects in the abduction were arrested, but all were later released for lack of evidence. On October 8, a spokesman for Chechnya's Security Ministry said the abductees were alive and well, but the kidnappers had not set demands or conditions for their release.
After nearly two months, at the end of November, the kidnappers contacted Granger, promising that the hostages were alive and well and demanding a ransom
of 10 million dollars. The British Foreign and Commonwealth Office
had already announced that it was Her Majesty's Government's policy not to pay ransoms, but Granger agreed to find the money. According to the 2005 article in Kommersant
, the management of state-owned telecommunications company Chechentelekom determined that the engineers were in the hands of the rogue Chechen commander and reputed organized crime
figure Arbi Barayev
; during the war with Russia, Barayev abducted a group of 29 Russian engineers near Grozny and later exchanged them for a large sum of money. According to the rumors, the company even took one of Barayev's deputies hostage and proposed exchanging him for the foreigners, yet Barayev declined and continued in demanding $10m for their release.
, and were soon identified by one of the victims' bodyguards. In a press conference on December 10, Chechnya's vice-president, Vakha Arsanov
, showed a recovered videotape
in which the kidnappers forced the four to dress in military uniforms and confess in Russian
to spy
ing for "German
, English
and Israel
i special services and the CIA
." According to Chechen security forces, the hostages were executed at an unused factory south of Grozny after a rescue operation that went wrong; it was suggested that their death was a show of defiance to the authorities from the kidnappers. Family members said the abortive rescue attempt "ruined delicate negotiations" that were going on between Granger and the kidnappers, and also criticized an unnamed news agency
that had given out details of where the hostages were being held shortly before the operation.
On December 29, the Chechen officials found the four headless corpses on the outskirts of Grozny, reportedly after paying $2,000 a piece for the return of the bodies. That same day, the remains of the engineers were transported by Chechen Deputy Prime Minister Turpal-Ali Atgeriyev to Dagestan and flown through Azerbaijan
to Gatwick Airport near London
. According to the inquest
by the Westminster
Coroner's Court, the kidnapped men were starved of food and water, and had been repeatedly beaten with rifle butts before being decapitated
with a large knife. Examination of the bodies showed all the men had been extremely malnourished
and Rudi Petschi had suffered particularly horrific injuries.
s were in open revolt against the ChRI government of Maskhadov, and several analysts interpreted the abductions as a political act. Maskhadov himself blamed the atrocity on the "foreign special services" and their Chechen henchmen, hinting at a possible involvement of Russian special services using Chechen "bandits" to destabilise the breakaway territory. A similar opinion was voiced later by the Chechen commander Ruslan Gelayev, who in an interview for the BBC
said that the act was provocation
organized by "men trained by the Russian special services" as a part of an alleged plot to turn the public opinion
of neighboring nations and the world against Chechnya. The British investigation at the time surmised that the four were the victims of "warring mercenary
factions." Aid worker and writer Jonathan Littell
speculated that it was the Federal Security Service of the Russian Federation that outbid the employers of kidnapped workers to get them beheaded by Barayev and his gang, rather than be released. Later, the video and photographic materials of this and other Chechnya executions helped in FSB propaganda
efforts during the start of the Russian invasion of Chechnya in 1999.
paid him $30m for the atrocity, outbidding the ransom demand of $10m. Barayev himself denied that his group kidnapped and killed the foreigners.
Barayev was reported killed by either Russian or pro-Russian forces during the Second Chechen War
in June 2001; according to the reports from the republic, prior to this moment he has been semi-openly collaborating with the federal forces and living freely in Chechnya under protection of the FSB. In August 2002, Russian military officials announced the arrest of a man named Khusein Idiyev, described by them as a prominent member of Barayev's group, suspected of involvement in the 1998 killings. In December 2004, members of the Chechen OMON
special police summarily executed Isa Sakayev, allegedly a former associate of Barayev suspected to have been directly involved in the killings. In April 2005, Russian security forces said they had captured Adam Dzhabrailov, a Chechen man whom they said has confessed to have participated in the atrocity (according to the Russian military spokesman, Dzhabrailov was also suspected of involvement in the 1996 killings at the ICRC hospital of Novye Atagi
and in the 2002 Moscow theater hostage crisis
); in remarks broadcast on Russian TV, Dzhabrailov said that "Arbi [Barayev] shot them dead" (however, according to the British inquest, the victims were not shot but killed with knives).
as Apti Abitayev (Abitaev), was arrested over the abductions and had confessed to kidnapping the four foreigners. He was also named by the Chechen separatist warlord Shamil Basayev
in a 2005 interview to Channel 4 News
; according to Basayev, a man called Ruslan Dzhamalkhan from Urus-Martan
was involved in the crime together with Abitayev, and later became a district chief in the pro-Moscow
Chechen police forces
. Abitayev, described by the FSB defector Alexander Litvinenko
as a kidnapper connected to Russian special services, was reportedly killed by Russians in May 2001. In January 2008, Chechenpress
, website of the ChRI government-in-exile (by then led by Akhmed Zakayev
), announced that the unspecified witnesses' testimony indicate that the Chechen Islamist
ideologist Movladi Udugov
and Zakayev rival planned those killings, and that members of the armed group subordinate to Abitayev carried them out.
According to an article in Novaya Gazeta
, the hostages were kidnapped and killed by the group led by the brothers Uvais and Ramzan Akhmadov. In March 2001, Russia announced capture of Ruslan Akhmadov, whom a Kremlin spokesman said was a member of the gang suspected of executing the foreigners.
from their former employers.
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
-based specialists were seized by unidentified Chechen
Chechen people
Chechens constitute the largest native ethnic group originating in the North Caucasus region. They refer to themselves as Noxçi . Also known as Sadiks , Gargareans, Malkhs...
gunmen in Grozny
Grozny
Grozny is the capital city of the Chechen Republic, Russia. The city lies on the Sunzha River. According to the preliminary results of the 2010 Census, the city had a population of 271,596; up from 210,720 recorded in the 2002 Census. but still only about two-thirds of 399,688 recorded in the 1989...
, the capital of Russia
Russia
Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...
's breakaway republic of Chechnya
Chechnya
The Chechen Republic , commonly referred to as Chechnya , also spelled Chechnia or Chechenia, sometimes referred to as Ichkeria , is a federal subject of Russia . It is located in the southeastern part of Europe in the Northern Caucasus mountains. The capital of the republic is the city of Grozny...
. After more than two months in captivity, all four men were found brutally murdered, reportedly following a failed rescue bid by the Chechen separatist security forces. As of 2009, no one has been tried in this case.
The victims were three Britons
British people
The British are citizens of the United Kingdom, of the Isle of Man, any of the Channel Islands, or of any of the British overseas territories, and their descendants...
: Peter Kennedy (46) of Hereford
Hereford
Hereford is a cathedral city, civil parish and county town of Herefordshire, England. It lies on the River Wye, approximately east of the border with Wales, southwest of Worcester, and northwest of Gloucester...
, Darren Hickey (27) from Surrey
Surrey
Surrey is a county in the South East of England and is one of the Home Counties. The county borders Greater London, Kent, East Sussex, West Sussex, Hampshire and Berkshire. The historic county town is Guildford. Surrey County Council sits at Kingston upon Thames, although this has been part of...
, Rudi Petschi (42) of Devon
Devon
Devon is a large county in southwestern England. The county is sometimes referred to as Devonshire, although the term is rarely used inside the county itself as the county has never been officially "shired", it often indicates a traditional or historical context.The county shares borders with...
, and New Zealand
New Zealand
New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses and numerous smaller islands. The country is situated some east of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and roughly south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga...
-born Stan Shaw (58). The four men had been working for Granger Telecom, a British
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
telecommunication
Telecommunication
Telecommunication is the transmission of information over significant distances to communicate. In earlier times, telecommunications involved the use of visual signals, such as beacons, smoke signals, semaphore telegraphs, signal flags, and optical heliographs, or audio messages via coded...
company which had won a £183m contract for the separatist government-run company Chechentelekom to install telephone lines, satellite links
Communications satellite
A communications satellite is an artificial satellite stationed in space for the purpose of telecommunications...
and a mobile phone system throughout the war-ravaged republic; the work was suspended after the four men were kidnapped
Kidnapping
In criminal law, kidnapping is the taking away or transportation of a person against that person's will, usually to hold the person in false imprisonment, a confinement without legal authority...
.
The slayings were a major blow to the efforts of the breakaway Chechen Republic of Ichkeria
Chechen Republic of Ichkeria
The Chechen Republic of Ichkeria is the unrecognized secessionist government of Chechnya. The republic was proclaimed in late 1991 by Dzokhar Dudayev, and fought two devastating wars between separatists and the Russian Federation which denounced secession...
(ChRI) to gain international recognition of its independence
Independence
Independence is a condition of a nation, country, or state in which its residents and population, or some portion thereof, exercise self-government, and usually sovereignty, over its territory....
. Kidnappings had become common in Chechnya since the end of the First Chechen War
First Chechen War
The First Chechen War, also known as the War in Chechnya, was a conflict between the Russian Federation and the Chechen Republic of Ichkeria, fought from December 1994 to August 1996...
in 1996, as the ruined region's fledging separatist government failed to maintain law and order, but the hostage
Hostage
A hostage is a person or entity which is held by a captor. The original definition meant that this was handed over by one of two belligerent parties to the other or seized as security for the carrying out of an agreement, or as a preventive measure against certain acts of war...
s at the time were rarely killed, and no other kidnapped foreigners were murdered.
Kidnapping
On the night of October 3, 1998, a well-armed group of up to 20 ChechenChechen language
The Chechen language is spoken by more than 1.5 million people, mostly in Chechnya and by Chechen people elsewhere. It is a member of the Northeast Caucasian languages.-Classification:...
-speaking men captured four foreign worker
Foreign worker
A foreign worker is a person who works in a country other than the one of which he or she is a citizen. The term migrant worker as discussed in the migrant worker page is used in a particular UN resolution as a synonym for "foreign worker"...
s from their home, located in the vicinity of the headquarters of the Chechen security team specifically tasked with fighting the plague of kidnappings in the republic. The attackers fought a brief gun battle with one of the victims' lightly armed local bodyguards (according to Chechen officials the other five bodyguards did not open fire) and one member of the gang was reportedly wounded. Nevertheless, the anti-kidnapping unit's officers did not react to the shooting, allegedly because they were not aware of the presence of the foreigners at the house, and the sound of gunfire was frequent in Grozny at night.
All the law enforcement agencies
Law enforcement agency
In North American English, a law enforcement agency is a government agency responsible for the enforcement of the laws.Outside North America, such organizations are called police services. In North America, some of these services are called police while others have other names In North American...
of ChRI
Chechen Republic of Ichkeria
The Chechen Republic of Ichkeria is the unrecognized secessionist government of Chechnya. The republic was proclaimed in late 1991 by Dzokhar Dudayev, and fought two devastating wars between separatists and the Russian Federation which denounced secession...
got involved in the search for the victims. More than 60 other hostages were released as Chechen officials launched raids on the homes of suspected kidnappers, but the missing engineers were not found. During the crackdown, several suspects in the abduction were arrested, but all were later released for lack of evidence. On October 8, a spokesman for Chechnya's Security Ministry said the abductees were alive and well, but the kidnappers had not set demands or conditions for their release.
After nearly two months, at the end of November, the kidnappers contacted Granger, promising that the hostages were alive and well and demanding a ransom
Ransom
Ransom is the practice of holding a prisoner or item to extort money or property to secure their release, or it can refer to the sum of money involved.In an early German law, a similar concept was called bad influence...
of 10 million dollars. The British Foreign and Commonwealth Office
Foreign and Commonwealth Office
The Foreign and Commonwealth Office, commonly called the Foreign Office or the FCO is a British government department responsible for promoting the interests of the United Kingdom overseas, created in 1968 by merging the Foreign Office and the Commonwealth Office.The head of the FCO is the...
had already announced that it was Her Majesty's Government's policy not to pay ransoms, but Granger agreed to find the money. According to the 2005 article in Kommersant
Kommersant
Kommersant is a commerce-oriented newspaper published in Russia. , the circulation was 131,000.- History :The newspaper was initially published in 1909, and it was closed down following the Bolshevik seizure of power and the introduction of censorship in 1917.In 1989, with the onset of press...
, the management of state-owned telecommunications company Chechentelekom determined that the engineers were in the hands of the rogue Chechen commander and reputed organized crime
Organized crime
Organized crime or criminal organizations are transnational, national, or local groupings of highly centralized enterprises run by criminals for the purpose of engaging in illegal activity, most commonly for monetary profit. Some criminal organizations, such as terrorist organizations, are...
figure Arbi Barayev
Arbi Barayev
Arbi Alautdinovich Barayev , nicknamed "The Terminator", was a renegade Chechen warlord often accused of clandestine links with the Russian special services...
; during the war with Russia, Barayev abducted a group of 29 Russian engineers near Grozny and later exchanged them for a large sum of money. According to the rumors, the company even took one of Barayev's deputies hostage and proposed exchanging him for the foreigners, yet Barayev declined and continued in demanding $10m for their release.
Murder
On December 8, the abductees' heads were found in a sack on the side of a highway in the Chechen village of Assinovskaya, close to the border with IngushetiaIngushetia
The Republic of Ingushetia is a federal subject of Russia , located in the North Caucasus region with its capital at Magas. In terms of area, the republic is the smallest of Russia's federal subjects except for the two federal cities, Moscow and Saint Petersburg...
, and were soon identified by one of the victims' bodyguards. In a press conference on December 10, Chechnya's vice-president, Vakha Arsanov
Vakha Arsanov
Vakha Arsanov was a former vice president in the Aslan Maskhadov's government of Chechen Republic of Ichkeria.-Early life:Vakha Arsanov was born in 1950 in Dagestan Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic...
, showed a recovered videotape
Videotape
A videotape is a recording of images and sounds on to magnetic tape as opposed to film stock or random access digital media. Videotapes are also used for storing scientific or medical data, such as the data produced by an electrocardiogram...
in which the kidnappers forced the four to dress in military uniforms and confess in Russian
Russian language
Russian is a Slavic language used primarily in Russia, Belarus, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan. It is an unofficial but widely spoken language in Ukraine, Moldova, Latvia, Turkmenistan and Estonia and, to a lesser extent, the other countries that were once constituent republics...
to spy
SPY
SPY is a three-letter acronym that may refer to:* SPY , ticker symbol for Standard & Poor's Depositary Receipts* SPY , a satirical monthly, trademarked all-caps* SPY , airport code for San Pédro, Côte d'Ivoire...
ing for "German
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
, English
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
and Israel
Israel
The State of Israel is a parliamentary republic located in the Middle East, along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea...
i special services and the CIA
Central Intelligence Agency
The Central Intelligence Agency is a civilian intelligence agency of the United States government. It is an executive agency and reports directly to the Director of National Intelligence, responsible for providing national security intelligence assessment to senior United States policymakers...
." According to Chechen security forces, the hostages were executed at an unused factory south of Grozny after a rescue operation that went wrong; it was suggested that their death was a show of defiance to the authorities from the kidnappers. Family members said the abortive rescue attempt "ruined delicate negotiations" that were going on between Granger and the kidnappers, and also criticized an unnamed news agency
News agency
A news agency is an organization of journalists established to supply news reports to news organizations: newspapers, magazines, and radio and television broadcasters. Such an agency may also be referred to as a wire service, newswire or news service.-History:The oldest news agency is Agence...
that had given out details of where the hostages were being held shortly before the operation.
On December 29, the Chechen officials found the four headless corpses on the outskirts of Grozny, reportedly after paying $2,000 a piece for the return of the bodies. That same day, the remains of the engineers were transported by Chechen Deputy Prime Minister Turpal-Ali Atgeriyev to Dagestan and flown through Azerbaijan
Azerbaijan
Azerbaijan , officially the Republic of Azerbaijan is the largest country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia. Located at the crossroads of Western Asia and Eastern Europe, it is bounded by the Caspian Sea to the east, Russia to the north, Georgia to the northwest, Armenia to the west, and Iran to...
to Gatwick Airport near London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
. According to the inquest
Inquest
Inquests in England and Wales are held into sudden and unexplained deaths and also into the circumstances of discovery of a certain class of valuable artefacts known as "treasure trove"...
by the Westminster
Westminster
Westminster is an area of central London, within the City of Westminster, England. It lies on the north bank of the River Thames, southwest of the City of London and southwest of Charing Cross...
Coroner's Court, the kidnapped men were starved of food and water, and had been repeatedly beaten with rifle butts before being decapitated
Decapitation
Decapitation is the separation of the head from the body. Beheading typically refers to the act of intentional decapitation, e.g., as a means of murder or execution; it may be accomplished, for example, with an axe, sword, knife, wire, or by other more sophisticated means such as a guillotine...
with a large knife. Examination of the bodies showed all the men had been extremely malnourished
Malnutrition
Malnutrition is the condition that results from taking an unbalanced diet in which certain nutrients are lacking, in excess , or in the wrong proportions....
and Rudi Petschi had suffered particularly horrific injuries.
Reactions
United Nations Secretary-GeneralUnited Nations Secretary-GeneralThe Secretary-General of the United Nations is the head of the Secretariat of the United Nations, one of the principal organs of the United Nations. The Secretary-General also acts as the de facto spokesperson and leader of the United Nations....
Kofi AnnanKofi AnnanKofi Atta Annan is a Ghanaian diplomat who served as the seventh Secretary-General of the UN from 1 January 1997 to 31 December 2006...
said he was "shocked" by the murder.
According his spokesman, President of Russia Boris YeltsinBoris YeltsinBoris Nikolayevich Yeltsin was the first President of the Russian Federation, serving from 1991 to 1999.Originally a supporter of Mikhail Gorbachev, Yeltsin emerged under the perestroika reforms as one of Gorbachev's most powerful political opponents. On 29 May 1990 he was elected the chairman of...
was "deeply disturbed".
President of IchkeriaPresident of IchkeriaThis is a list of Presidents of the unrecognised Chechen Republic of Ichkeria, a pro-independence movement that controlled most of Chechnya from 1991 to 1999...
Aslan MaskhadovAslan MaskhadovAslan Aliyevich Maskhadov was a leader of the Chechen separatist movement and the third President of the Chechen Republic of Ichkeria.He was credited by many with the Chechen victory in the First Chechen War, which allowed for the...
said he was "saddened and angered". He also announced a national crackdown on kidnappers and called for mobilisation of war veterans to fight the organized crime.
The British Foreign Secretary, Robin CookRobin CookRobert Finlayson Cook was a British Labour Party politician, who was the Member of Parliament for Livingston from 1983 until his death, and notably served in the Cabinet as Foreign Secretary from 1997 to 2001....
, described the murders as "repugnant" and pledged to discover exactly what led the tragedy. Paul KeetchPaul KeetchPaul Stuart Keetch is an English Liberal Democrat politician who served as the Member of Parliament for Hereford from 1997 to 2010.-Early life:...
, the MPMember of ParliamentA Member of Parliament is a representative of the voters to a :parliament. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, the term applies specifically to members of the lower house, as upper houses often have a different title, such as senate, and thus also have different titles for its members,...
for the constituency where victim Peter Kennedy lived, has blamed the Chechen security forces for bungling a rescue attempt.
Suspects
At the time of the abduction many of the region's warlordWarlord
A warlord is a person with power who has both military and civil control over a subnational area due to armed forces loyal to the warlord and not to a central authority. The term can also mean one who espouses the ideal that war is necessary, and has the means and authority to engage in war...
s were in open revolt against the ChRI government of Maskhadov, and several analysts interpreted the abductions as a political act. Maskhadov himself blamed the atrocity on the "foreign special services" and their Chechen henchmen, hinting at a possible involvement of Russian special services using Chechen "bandits" to destabilise the breakaway territory. A similar opinion was voiced later by the Chechen commander Ruslan Gelayev, who in an interview for the BBC
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
said that the act was provocation
Provocation
Provocation and provoke may refer to:* Provocation , a type of legal defense in court which claims the "victim" provoked the accused's actions...
organized by "men trained by the Russian special services" as a part of an alleged plot to turn the public opinion
Public opinion
Public opinion is the aggregate of individual attitudes or beliefs held by the adult population. Public opinion can also be defined as the complex collection of opinions of many different people and the sum of all their views....
of neighboring nations and the world against Chechnya. The British investigation at the time surmised that the four were the victims of "warring mercenary
Mercenary
A mercenary, is a person who takes part in an armed conflict based on the promise of material compensation rather than having a direct interest in, or a legal obligation to, the conflict itself. A non-conscript professional member of a regular army is not considered to be a mercenary although he...
factions." Aid worker and writer Jonathan Littell
Jonathan Littell
Jonathan Littell is a bilingual writer living in Barcelona. He grew up in France and United States and is a dual citizen of both countries. After acquiring his bachelor degree he worked for a humanitarian organisation for nine years, leaving his job in 2001 in order to concentrate on writing...
speculated that it was the Federal Security Service of the Russian Federation that outbid the employers of kidnapped workers to get them beheaded by Barayev and his gang, rather than be released. Later, the video and photographic materials of this and other Chechnya executions helped in FSB propaganda
Propaganda
Propaganda is a form of communication that is aimed at influencing the attitude of a community toward some cause or position so as to benefit oneself or one's group....
efforts during the start of the Russian invasion of Chechnya in 1999.
Arbi Barayev
On December 13, 1998, Maskhadov officially named the warlord Arbi Barayev as the chief suspect. Some former hostages, including Magomed Chaguchiev from Dagestan, said they were held by Barayev together with the victims. Abdurakhman Adukhov, a former Russian hostage, told the BBC in November 2001 that Barayev told him that Osama bin LadenOsama bin Laden
Osama bin Mohammed bin Awad bin Laden was the founder of the militant Islamist organization Al-Qaeda, the jihadist organization responsible for the September 11 attacks on the United States and numerous other mass-casualty attacks against civilian and military targets...
paid him $30m for the atrocity, outbidding the ransom demand of $10m. Barayev himself denied that his group kidnapped and killed the foreigners.
Barayev was reported killed by either Russian or pro-Russian forces during the Second Chechen War
Second Chechen War
The Second Chechen War, in a later phase better known as the War in the North Caucasus, was launched by the Russian Federation starting 26 August 1999, in response to the Invasion of Dagestan by the Islamic International Peacekeeping Brigade ....
in June 2001; according to the reports from the republic, prior to this moment he has been semi-openly collaborating with the federal forces and living freely in Chechnya under protection of the FSB. In August 2002, Russian military officials announced the arrest of a man named Khusein Idiyev, described by them as a prominent member of Barayev's group, suspected of involvement in the 1998 killings. In December 2004, members of the Chechen OMON
OMON
OMOH is a generic name for the system of special units of militsiya within the Russian and earlier the Soviet MVD...
special police summarily executed Isa Sakayev, allegedly a former associate of Barayev suspected to have been directly involved in the killings. In April 2005, Russian security forces said they had captured Adam Dzhabrailov, a Chechen man whom they said has confessed to have participated in the atrocity (according to the Russian military spokesman, Dzhabrailov was also suspected of involvement in the 1996 killings at the ICRC hospital of Novye Atagi
The ICRC hospital of Novye Atagi
The ICRC Hospital of Novye Atagi is an International Committee of the Red Cross hospital in Novye Atagi, Chechnya, Russian Federation. It was evacuated in December 1996 when six members of the expatriate team were assassinated during an early morning raid by an unidentified armed group...
and in the 2002 Moscow theater hostage crisis
Moscow theater hostage crisis
The Moscow theater hostage crisis, also known as the 2002 Nord-Ost siege, was the seizure of the crowded Dubrovka Theater on 23 October 2002 by some 40 to 50 armed Chechens who claimed allegiance to the Islamist militant separatist movement in Chechnya. They took 850 hostages and demanded the...
); in remarks broadcast on Russian TV, Dzhabrailov said that "Arbi [Barayev] shot them dead" (however, according to the British inquest, the victims were not shot but killed with knives).
Other suspects
In December 1998, ChRI authorities announced that a suspect, identified by the Itar-TassInformation Telegraph Agency of Russia
The Information Telegraph Agency of Russia , is the major news agency of Russia. It is headquartered in Moscow.- History :Its origin is in a letter sent by Finance Minister Vladimir Kokovtsov to foreign minister in March 1904 writing that "our trade and industrial circles, as well as the Finance...
as Apti Abitayev (Abitaev), was arrested over the abductions and had confessed to kidnapping the four foreigners. He was also named by the Chechen separatist warlord Shamil Basayev
Shamil Basayev
Shamil Salmanovich Basayev was a Chechen militant Islamist and a leader of the Chechen rebel movement.Starting as a field commander in the Transcaucasus, Basayev led guerrilla campaigns against the Russian troops for years, as well as launching mass-hostage takings of civilians, with his goal...
in a 2005 interview to Channel 4 News
Channel 4 News
Channel 4 News is the news division of British television broadcaster Channel 4. It is produced by ITN, and has been in operation since the broadcaster's launch in 1982.-Channel 4 News:...
; according to Basayev, a man called Ruslan Dzhamalkhan from Urus-Martan
Urus-Martan
Urus-Martan is a town and the administrative center of Urus-Martanovsky District of the Chechen Republic, Russia, located on the Martan River. The town is located in the central part of the republic, to the southwest of the capital Grozny. Population:...
was involved in the crime together with Abitayev, and later became a district chief in the pro-Moscow
Moscow
Moscow is the capital, the most populous city, and the most populous federal subject of Russia. The city is a major political, economic, cultural, scientific, religious, financial, educational, and transportation centre of Russia and the continent...
Chechen police forces
Kadyrovtsy
Kadyrovtsy also Kadyrovites, is a term used by the population of Chechnya, as well as members of the groups themselves, for former members of the paramilitary units of the former pro-Moscow President of the Chechen Republic Akhmad Kadyrov, headed by his son and the current President Ramzan...
. Abitayev, described by the FSB defector Alexander Litvinenko
Alexander Litvinenko
Alexander Valterovich Litvinenko was an officer who served in the Soviet KGB and its Russian successor, the Federal Security Service ....
as a kidnapper connected to Russian special services, was reportedly killed by Russians in May 2001. In January 2008, Chechenpress
Chechenpress
State Information Agency Chechenpress is the news agency of the Chechen separatists who proclaim themselves to be the representatives of the Chechen Republic of Ichkeria...
, website of the ChRI government-in-exile (by then led by Akhmed Zakayev
Akhmed Zakayev
Akhmed Khalidovich Zakayev is the former Deputy Prime Minister and the current Prime Minister of the Chechen Republic of Ichkeria , which is unrecognised by other countries...
), announced that the unspecified witnesses' testimony indicate that the Chechen Islamist
Islamism
Islamism also , lit., "Political Islam" is set of ideologies holding that Islam is not only a religion but also a political system. Islamism is a controversial term, and definitions of it sometimes vary...
ideologist Movladi Udugov
Movladi Udugov
Movladi Saidarbievich Udugov was the First Deputy Prime Minister of the separatist Chechen Republic of Ichkeria...
and Zakayev rival planned those killings, and that members of the armed group subordinate to Abitayev carried them out.
According to an article in Novaya Gazeta
Novaya Gazeta
Novaya Gazeta is a Russian newspaper well known in the country for its critical and investigative coverage of Russian political and social affairs....
, the hostages were kidnapped and killed by the group led by the brothers Uvais and Ramzan Akhmadov. In March 2001, Russia announced capture of Ruslan Akhmadov, whom a Kremlin spokesman said was a member of the gang suspected of executing the foreigners.
Lawsuits
In April 2002, the British government was forced to apologize to the widow of Rudi Petschi, over the way her husband's kidnap and murder had been handled. In June 2003, the families of three hostages sued for more than £1m in compensationRemuneration
Remuneration is the total compensation that an employee receives in exchange for the service they perform for their employer. Typically, this consists of monetary rewards, also referred to as wage or salary...
from their former employers.