Poland detains exiled ex-Chechen leader

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WARSAW, Poland, Sept. 17 (UPI) -- An exiled Chechen leader was detained Friday in Poland where he planned to attend a meeting of Chechens supporting independence for the region, police said.

Polish officials said they were obligated to arrest Akhmed Zakayev because of an international arrest warrant, but indicated he may not necessarily be extradited to Russia, The Daily Telegraph reported.

"Mr. Zakayev has been detained and sent to the Warsaw prosecutor's office," police spokesman Mariusz Sokolowski said. "The role of the police ends here. The court will now take over the case and decide on the next procedure."

Polish news reports said Zakayev was going to the prosecutor's office to turn himself in to authorities when police detained him.

Zakayev, granted political asylum by Britain in 2003, has denied Russian charges of armed rebellion, murder and kidnapping that date back to the 1994 and 1999 wars between Russia and Chechen separatists over independence in the North Caucasus region, the BBC said.

In Moscow, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said he expected Polish authorities to arrest and extradite Zakayev if he attended the two-day conference.

But Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk and others suggested they didn't expect Zakayev to be extradited.

"The extradition procedure isn't the same as extradition," Tusk told Polish media.

"I can't imagine Zakayev would be handed to Russia," Finance Minister Jan Rostowski said on Polish radio Friday. "If a Polish court decides to extradite him, the justice minister's agreement is still required. There are such things as overriding values."