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Poland arrests Chechen leader

18 September 2010 21:41 (UTC +04:00)

Baku-APA. Police in Poland have detained exiled Chechen independence leader, while Warsaw says the decision on the militant leader’s arrest is not politically motivated, APA reports quoting Press TV.

Police arrested Akhmed Zakayev on Friday, saying they were responding to an international arrest warrant issued by Russia.

"He was arrested by plainclothes police as he was leaving a building," police spokesman Mariusz Sokolowski told TVN24 television, AFP reported.

"Because there was an international arrest warrant, police were under an obligation to detain him and to take him to prosecutors," Sokolowski said.

Zakayev, who is wanted in Russia on terrorism charges, lives in Britain as a political asylum seeker.

He had come to Poland to attend a Chechen people’s congress.

"We will act in keeping with the letter of the law, not according to political factors," Andrzej Seremet, Poland’s chief prosecutor said during a telephone conversation with Russian Prosecutor General Yuri Chaika, RIA Novosti reported.

Russian officials had warned they would demand Zakayev’s extradition should he attend the conference of some 300 Chechen exiles, set to end later Friday.

"He must be tried in Russia," Russian deputy prime minister Alexander Khloponin told Interfax news agency following the arrest.

"Akhmed Zakayev is an international criminal and an international terrorist," he added.

Poland had warned on Wednesday that it would arrest Zakayev should he come to the Eastern European country.