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Achemez Gochiyayev

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Achemez Gochiyayev (born in 1970, in the town of Karachaevsk) is a Russian citizen who was accused of organizing Russian apartment bombings, a series of terrorist acts in 1999 that killed nearly 300 people and led the country into the Second Chechen War. The five bombings took place during two weeks between September 4 and September 16, 1999 in Moscow, and south towns of Buynaksk and Volgodonsk. Gochiyaev was accused of being a mastermind behind all these bombings, however he has not been arrested or convicted and remains a fugitive.

Biography

Gochyiaev is an ethnic Karachai. He was born in 1970 in the city of Karachaevsk at North Caucasus. According to Russia's prosecutor office, Gochiyaev was raised in the Karachay-Cherkessia Republic. In 1997 he closed down a construction business in Moscow and went to Chechnya to train in Ibn Al-Khattab's terrorist training camps. After graduation, he went back to his home in Karachaevo-Cherkessia, where he established and ran his own Wahhabi jamaat until Khattab activated him.

His involvement in bombings

FSB investigation

According to FSB, Gochiyayev received $500,000 from warlord Ibn Al-Khattab to carry out the attacks. FSB released a picture showing the two together, claiming that it proved that the two had close links. Both Russia and USA accuse Al-Khattab of having direct links with Al-Qaida.

Gochiyaev's group was trained at Chechen rebel bases in the towns of Serzhen-Yurt and Urus-Martan, where the explosives were prepared. The group's "technical instructors" were two Arab field commanders, Abu Umar and Abu Djafar, and the bombings' brainchild was another Arab field commander, Ibn Al-Khattab.

Two members of Gochiyayev's group that carried out the attacks, Adam Dekkushev and Yusuf Crymshamhalov, have been sentenced to life term each in a special-regime colony. Both defendants have pleaded guilty only to some of the charges. For instance, Dekkushev acknowledged that he knew the explosives he transported were to be used for an act of terror. Dekkushev also confirmed Gochiyaev's role in the attacks. Dekkushev was extradited to Russia on April 14, 2002 to stand trial. Crymshamhalov was apprehended and extradicted to Moscow. Gochiyayev however remains at large and is under international search warrant.

An attempt of independent investigation

According to former FSB officer Mikhail Trepashkin, the person who actually rented the premises was FSB officer Vladimir Romanovich. Trepashkin says he was unable to present his evidence to the court, since he was arrested on charges of illegal arms possession a week before the trial. He was convicted by a military closed court for illegal arms possession and for divulging state secrets to four years in prison. Romanovich was subsequently killed in a hit and run accident in Cyprus. Gochiyev escaped to Georgia and later probably to Turkey, according to news reports.

The owner of a Guryanov St. basement warehouse in Moscow, Mark Blumenfeld, said the composite sketch of the man who rented his basement was later replaced with a different sketch. Mr. Blumenfeld pointed out that the inquest pressured him at Lefortovo to testify against Gochiyaev, the man identified by the latter sketch.

According to a book by Alexander Goldfarb and Marina Litvinenko, Gochyayev rented premises on four locations in Moscow where bombs were found. When two first bombs run off claiming more than 200 lives, he called to police to warn about two remaining bombs (at Borisovskie Prudy and Kapotnya). The remaining bombs were found on the addresses he indicated and deactivated, which helped to prevent a large number of further casualties. Gochiyaev claimed that he was framed by his old acquaintance, an FSB officer who asked him to rent basements "as storage facilities" at four locations where bombs were later found

References

  1. Gochiyayev's wanted page on FSB web site.
  2. Only one explosions suspect still free, Kommersant, December 10, 2002.
  3. ^ Murphy, Paul (2004). The Wolves of Islam: Russia and the Faces of Chechen Terror. Potomac Books Inc. p. 106. ISBN 978-1574888300. {{cite book}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help)
  4. ^ Russia hits back over blasts claims
  5. Chechens 'confirm' warlord's death
  6. Russia hits back over blasts claims
  7. RUSSIA: THE FSB VOWS TO CAPTURE THE REMAINING CO-CONSPIRATORS IPR Strategic Business Information Database. 2004-01-13
  8. ^ Apartment houses-blasts defendants sentenced to life imprisonment
  9. Agence France-Presse September 8, 2002 Alleged suspect for 1999 bombings hiding in Georgia: Russian FSB CORRECTION: ATTENTION - ADDS background
  10. For Trepashkin, Bomb Trail Leads to Jail
  11. Los Angeles Times - Russian Ex-Agent's Sentencing Called Political Investigator was about to release a report on 1999 bombings when he was arrested
  12. Фоторобот не первой свежестиTemplate:Ru icon, Igor Korolkov, Moscow News, N 44, November 11, 2003. Computer translation.
  13. Alex Goldfarb, with Marina Litvinenko Death of a Dissident: The Poisoning of Alexander Litvinenko and the Return of the KGB, The Free Press, 2007, ISBN 1-416-55165-4, page 264.
  14. «Я Хочу Рассказать О Взрывах Жилых Домов»
  15. Achemez Gochiyaev: I’ve been framed up by a FSB agent by Prima News, July 25, 2002
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