TBILISI, October 23 (AVN) - The remains of the Chechen rebel gang blocked in the northern Georgian mountains declined to surrender on Monday, chairman of Georgian parliament's defence and national security committee Georgy Baramidze told the Military News Agency.
The guerrillas are planning to return to Chechnya, Baramidze said. According to him, the Georgian troops will not impede them, but will "escort the militants from the rear in order to exclude their new penetration into the Georgian territory."
The rebels who have surrendered to the Georgian authorities will not be prosecuted, Interior Minister Kakha Targamadze told reporters on Monday. He did not elaborate on whether they would be extradited to Russia.
In Moscow, President Vladimir Putin's aide Sergei Yastrzhembsky said Russia will file an official request to Georgia asking it to extradite persons involved in terrorist acts, kidnappings and executions of hostages in case any of such are exposed among the surrendered guerrillas.
Russia is assured that there are legal grounds for making such a request, Yastrzhembsky said. Under the 1993 CIS convention on legal aid, persons who have committed crimes in a CIS member country are to be extradited to its law-enforcement agencies.
In accordance with this document, Russia has recently extradited suspects of making an attempt at the life of Georgian President Eduard Shevardnadze.