New victim of the Russian gas

MOSCOW, October 31 (IslamOnline & News Agencies) - Russia broke four days of silence on Wednesday, October 30, and revealed that the gas used in storming the Moscow theater was fentanyl, a potent agent responsible for nearly all of the 119 deaths among the captives.

Moscow also demanded the extradition of Akhmed Zakayev, an aide to Chechen leader Aslan Maskhadov, after he was arrested in Denmark on suspicion of being behind the siege, reported Agence France-Presse (AFP).

Danish authorities were expected to consider a request for the extradition of Zakayev on Thursday, October 31.

Health Minister Yury Shevchenko denied that the gas used in Saturday's special forces operation to free the hostage was banned under chemical weapons conventions and said that the active substance in the gas was fentanyl, a powerful narcotic used as an anesthetic.

"A fentanyl derivative was used to neutralize the terrorists," the minister said, referring to the Chechen fighters who held about 800 people hostage in the theater demanding end of war waged by Russia army against their homeland.

"I officially declare that chemical substances of the kind banned under international conventions on chemical weapons were not used," he said, as quoted by the Interfax news agency.

Russian officials had previously refused to specify the nature of the gas whose effects killed most of the 119 hostages who died and has left hundreds of others still in hospital.

U.S. Ambassador Alexander Vershbow said Tuesday, October 29, that lives could have been saved if precise information had been given out immediately following the operation.

Opiates such as fentanyl affect pain receptors, induce drowsiness and in sufficiently strong doses can cause the respiratory system to seize.

Medics who entered the theater behind the special forces to help the hostages complained after the operation that they had been given little or no information or preparation and had wholly inadequate material, including a lack of stretchers.

Their claims were echoed by the liberal opposition Yabloko party, which said in a statement: "The (lack of) organization of medical assistance to the victims... verges on the criminal."

Yabloko also called for a thorough investigation of the circumstances of the dawn assault, but the request was rejected by the ruling majority in the Duma.

The Human Rights Watch group Wednesday called for an independent investigation into the rescue raid, which ended a dramatic 57-hour standoff in a Moscow theater where Chechen fighters held some 800 hostages.

"Too many questions have been left unanswered" after 117 hostages died of gas used to overpower the commando during the raid, said Elizabeth Andersen, executive director of Human Rights Watch’s Europe and Central Asia division.

"Increasing evidence suggests that many hostages died because they were not given basic medical care immediately after their rescue," the rights group said in a statement.

According to emergency workers, many of the 119 hostages who died would still be alive if medical teams had been better organized and informed about Russian plans to use the gas.

Moreover, Russian authorities released information on the gas used only Wednesday, even "though it is of key importance to medical doctors who are still treating hostages -- some of whom are still in grave condition -- and to survivors, who may face long-term health consequences," the group pointed out.

"The authorities are silent precisely when information is a matter of life or death," Andersen charged.

An independent commission would be required to investigate reports of such negligence as well as evidence of extrajudicial executions, the HRW statement read, adding that according to Russian media, some of the hostage-takers were unconscious from the effects of the gas when they were shot.

A former intelligence official said Soviet scientists had worked hard during the Cold War on "bio-regulators," agents that could alter mass behavior and even put entire cities to sleep.

In another development, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Valery Loshinin said Moscow hoped that Denmark would "take the necessary steps" to extradite Akhmed Zakayev after the Chechen envoy appeared in a Danish court following his arrest at Russia's request.

A Danish judge, Lisbeth Christensen, ordered the 43-year-old Zakayev detained until November 12, saying there was a risk that he would flee.

His lawyer, high-profile former deputy Bjorn Elmquist, said he would appeal the ruling.

If authorities have still not ruled on Zakayev's extradition by November 12, a judge will again be asked to rule on whether the Chechen envoy should be kept in custody or whether he can be released.

Heavily armed police surrounded a Copenhagen court as Zakayev appeared at a closed-door hearing Wednesday following his arrest in the Danish capital.

The city's police chief Hanne Bech Hansen said Zakayev was "suspected of a series of terrorist acts over the period 1996-1999 and of having taken part in planning the hostage siege in Moscow."

Danish Justice Minister Lene Espersen said after the court ordered Zakayev's detention that legal authorities in Denmark needed "stronger and more complete evidence" supporting allegations against the Chechen envoy if they were to consider an extradition.

"I want to make it very clear, we need solid proof from the Russian authorities before we can accept an extradition. Russia should also promise that Zakayev would not receive the death penalty," she told reporters.

Such a guarantee would remove a key legal obstacle to Copenhagen extraditing Zakayev, according to John Vestergaard, associate professor of criminal law at Copenhagen University.

"The code on extradition specifically states that if the guarantee is issued so that the receiving state promises not to execute, then there is no obstacle,” he told AFP.

Moscow has guaranteed Denmark that Zakayev will not face the death penalty if extradited, according to Russia's Interfax news agency.

The arrest of Zakayev -- the main link in rare contacts between the Chechen leadership and Moscow -- came as Russian President Vladimir Putin made good on a vow to crack down on Chechen independence fighters.

Zakayev had been attending a two-day international conference on Chechnya in Copenhagen attended by representatives of the Chechen diaspora and non-governmental organizations.

Russia officially filed an extradition request, but Danish Justice Minister Lene Espersen said legal authorities there needed "stronger and more complete evidence" supporting allegations against Zakayev.

Russia declared a moratorium on capital punishment in 1996 but has not formally abolished the death penalty.

The Amnesty International rights group late Wednesday, October 29, called on Russia to guarantee that Zakayev would not be subjected to ill treatment, torture, or the death penalty if extradited.

The London-based group also urged Denmark not to yield Zakayev without those guarantees.

A senior prosecutor said Russia would provide written guarantees to the Danish authorities that Zakayev would not face the death penalty and would be granted full legal rights.

Russia has accused Zakayev of being behind the 57-hour hostage-taking, although he has denied responsibility and condemned the attack in an interview with AFP Monday, October 27.

The toll of the hostage crisis rose slightly as two more rescued hostages died overnight; bringing the number of captives killed to 119, the Moscow chief medical officer Andrei Seltsovsky said.

A total of 510 former hostages have been released from hospital but 152 others remain, eight of them in critical condition, Interfax quoted a health official as saying.

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