Chechen leader arrested, freed in Poland

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WARSAW, Poland, Sept. 18 (UPI) -- A Polish court released a Chechen separatist a few hours after his arrest, refusing to hold him on a Russian extradition request.

Akhmed Zakayev faces charges that include murder, terrorism and kidnapping. Britain gave him political asylum in 2003.

Prosecutors in Warsaw asked the court Friday to hold Zakayev for 40 days while the Russian charges are investigated, the Russian news agency RIA Novosti reported. But Zakayev was freed.

He said afterwards the conditions of his release allow him to travel in Poland, and he plans to attend the World Chechen Congress in Pultusk, 40 miles north of Warsaw.

"Poland is one of my favorite countries, which I will always visit. It is yet another country where I feel free," Zakayev said.

"I do not intend to conduct an anti-Russian campaign. Poland has chosen to re-establish normal relations with Russia, its great neighbor, but we must also make sure that Russia also becomes a normal state."

Zakayev fought in the first Chechen War. He has opposed Islamic extremists in the region.