Georgia sentences Chechen wanted for Russian diplomat's assassination
Publisher | Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty |
Publication Date | 11 June 2014 |
Cite as | Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, Georgia sentences Chechen wanted for Russian diplomat's assassination, 11 June 2014, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/53b282cf31.html [accessed 29 May 2023] |
Disclaimer | This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States. |
June 11, 2014
A court in Georgia has sentenced to 12 years in prison a man wanted by Moscow for allegedly killing a Russian diplomat and his wife in Georgia's breakaway region of Abkhazia.
The court on June 11 convicted Yusup Lakayev, a Russian citizen from Chechnya, of illegal possession of weapons and the attempted killing of a police officer.
Russia has requested Lakayev's extradition, saying he is suspected in shooting dead the first-secretary of the Russian Consulate in Abkhazia, Dmitry Vishernev, and fatally wounding his wife in September.
Lakayev was arrested in the city of Batumi in Georgia's Ajara region in September after he opened fire on Georgian police in a separate incident.
Russia's Investigative Committee said earlier that Lakayev had planned to escape to Turkey via Georgia after shooting Vishernev and his wife.
Based on reporting by apsny.ge and Interfax
Link to original story on RFE/RL website