Investigation Updates

Information Gathering

• During the extended investigation period, information regarding the possible involvement of Sh.D. Askhabov, a native of the village of Starye Atagi, Grozny district of the Chechen Republic, in assisting Dekkushev in 1999 with the acquisition of ammonium nitrate in the Volgograd region was thoroughly verified.
• Separate instructions were sent to the Directorate of the FSB of Russia for the Chechen Republic to locate Askhabov and to the Volgograd region to check enterprises that manufactured and sold ammonium nitrate during the specified period.

Case Merging and Analysis

• On August 8, 2002, Deputy Prosecutor General of the Russian Federation, State Counselor of Justice 1st Class V.V. Kolmogorov, merged the present criminal case and criminal case No. 173 concerning the explosion of a residential building in Volgodonsk in September 1999.
• In this merged case, Dekkushev, T. Batchaev, and Krymshamkhalov are charged with crimes under Part 2 of Art. 105 and Part 3 of Art. 205 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation.
• The analysis of the materials of criminal case No. 173 (totaling 30 volumes) has been completed.
• Based on these results, an additional 482 victims were identified, who must subsequently be recognized as victims and civil plaintiffs.
• For 12 of these victims, forensic medical examinations are necessary to determine the extent of physical harm caused by the specified act of terrorism.

Case Separation

• On September 9 of this year, in accordance with Art. 154 of the Code of Criminal Procedure of the Russian Federation, criminal case No. 207 against Dekkushev was separated from criminal case No. 103 into separate proceedings.
• This separated case was sent for further investigation to the Department for the Investigation of Especially Important Cases of the Prosecutor General's Office of the Russian Federation on September 30, 2002.

Additional Investigative Work

• During the extended investigation period, work continued to confirm the death of the accused Khattab and the involvement of the accused Abu Walid in the hostage-taking of Russian Army Lieutenant Colonel S.K. Boreev.
• Video recordings of the funeral of the specified leader of illegal armed groups and the capture of the named officer were obtained from operational units of the FSB of Russia and examined.

Summary of Investigative Actions

• In total, during the investigation period, the following actions were conducted:
  • Over 1,864 interrogations of witnesses and victims.
  • 90 identifications.
  • 45 seizures.
  • 358 inspections.
  • 794 forensic examinations.
• Despite the significant volume of work, it has not yet been possible to detain the accused remaining at large or to complete investigative actions that require their presence.

Planned Actions for Criminal Case No. 103

During the further investigation of criminal case No. 103, the following is planned:

• If Georgia grants petitions for the extradition of Gochiyayev, Batchaev, Krymshamkhalov, and others, procedures will be carried out to extradite the accused to Russia, and investigative actions will immediately proceed with their participation.
• According to a separately developed plan, work will be carried out on recognizing the aforementioned number of victims as victims and civil plaintiffs, as well as on conducting the necessary forensic medical examinations related to them.