JAN M. OLSEN, Associated Press Writer Tuesday, December 3, 2002

(12-03) 07:19 PST COPENHAGEN, Denmark (AP) --

Denmark released a senior Chechen rebel Tuesday because of insufficient evidence against him in a Russian extradition request, the Justice Ministry announced.

Russia immediately protested the decision as politically motivated.

Akhmed Zakayev, a top aide of Chechen separatist leader Aslan Maskhadov, had been detained for one month in the Danish capital, Copenhagen, while the Justice Ministry investigated Russia's request for his return.

"An extradition cannot be made on basis of the present material," Jakob Scharf, who heads the ministry's international department, announced Tuesday.

Denmark had given Russia until Nov. 30 to provide sufficient evidence to justify extraditing Zakayev, and it had not done so, said Scharf. Therefore the Danish government had released Zakayev and told him he "could freely leave the country."

In Moscow, Russian Justice Minister Yuri Chaika said his country had given Denmark with more than enough evidence to extradite Zakayev.

"It appears that political aspects prevailed over legal ones in that case," Chaika said, according to the Interfax news agency. "Judging by Danish officials moves to drag out the process, it was clear from the start that the Danish side didn't intend to extradite Zakayev."

Zakayev was arrested Oct. 30 in Copenhagen at Moscow's request after a legal meeting of rebels and human rights activists. Russia claims he is linked to attacks on civilians in connection with the war in the breakaway republic of Chechnya.

A 1996 peace left Chechen separatists in charge after a 20-month war, but Russian troops poured back into Chechnya in 1999, after rebel raids in a neighboring region and after a series of apartment-house bombings that killed some 300 people and were blamed on the rebels.

-- Anonymous, December 03, 2002