Interpol will continue to keep tabs on the movements of Chechen separatist leader Akhmed Zakayev, wanted on terrorist charges by Russia, the head of the organization said on Monday.
Zakayev, who was recently in Poland to attend a Chechen congress, was freed by a Warsaw district court on the evening of September 18, several hours after he was arrested at Russia's request.
Interpol's position is to find and identify where Zakayev is and to detain him, Ronald K. Noble said at a press-conference in the Russian Urals city of Yekaterinburg.
"Zakayev remains on the Interpol wanted list," the head of Interpol's office in Russia, Timur Lakhonin, said.
"Extraditions issues are purely the prerogative of foreign countries' courts," he added.
Polish prosecutors asked the Warsaw District Court to extend Zakayev's arrest for 40 days but their petition was rejected because Zakayev has been granted political refugee status in Britain, which is valid in the entire territory of the EU.
The Warsaw's Prosecutor's Office was expected on Friday to challenge the district court's decision to free Zakayev, who left Poland for London on Monday when his Polish visa expired.
He said he was ready to return to Poland at the request of Polish prosecutors as soon as he received a new visa.
Zakayev, who took part in the first Chechen war and allegedly led attacks on federal forces, was placed on an international wanted list by Russia in 2001 but was granted political asylum by Britain in 2003. Russia has repeatedly asked Britain to extradite him, but the request has invariably been denied.
Noble and Lakhonin were in Yekaterinburg to participate in all-Russian meeting of Interpol regional heads.
YEKATERINBURG, September 27 (RIA Novosti)
