TBILISI. Oct 4 (Interfax-AVN) - The Georgian Justice Ministry's penitentiary department on Friday confirmed the extradition of five out of 13 armed Chechens detained on the Russian-Georgian border in early August.
"Officials of the Georgian Justice Ministry's penitentiary department have confirmed the extradition at a meeting of the department's leadership and representatives of the republic's non- governmental organizations," a detainee's lawyer Mamuka Gabaidze told reports here on Friday.
According to him, "a resolution of the Georgian Prosecutor General's Office on the extradition of the five Chechens was demonstrated at a meeting."
"In violation of procedural norms, the lawyers were not allowed to study the prosecutor general's resolution on the extradition and that is why could not lodge an appeal with the court," Gabaidze said. He stressed that lawyers had not been permitted to enter the prison, that is why they are still unaware which of the detainees has been extradited.
According to Gabaidze, "the representatives of non- governmental organizations were given no chance to meet the eight remaining Chechens either."
"That is why I do not rule out that an incident could happen during the extradition and that the Chechens were beaten up."
Russia has not yet confirmed the handover of five Chechen rebels by Georgia.