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July 4th, 2016 
Awake Goy 
Zelimkhan Khangoshvili in Pankissi GorgeSaakashvili claims the government knew of the militants only after they kidnapped five Georgians, on August 26. We were able to meet with three of them, however, they did not want to talk to us. Their relatives said they were forced to act as guides on the way toward the border with Dagestan. After two days they were exchanged for a border guard. “When we saw they have satellite phones, we asked the Americans to intercept their communications, but it was no use,” Saakashvili said. “We told the CIA rep about it. In addition, we warned the Swiss in order to show we had nothing to hide.”Before the battle, the authorities began negotiations, demanding the militants turn back. Georgian government was represented by Zelimkhan Khangoshvili. He commanded a unit of 100 militants between 2000 and 2005. FSB considers him a terrorist, but Georgia’s special services often used his help due to his familiarity with local conditions. We met with him in a restaurant on the outskirts of Tbilisi, where he told us about the militants’ final hours:“The detachment was in a forest, high in the mountains. They were waiting for us. All they had to do is cross the mountain. I said it was a mistake, Georgia would not let them pass. They were told that if they lay down their arms, those who came from Europe will have to leave, while others will be able to return home. They were very aggressive, and did not want to make any concessions. It was a dead end.”But who were these 17 militants in Lopoto Gorge? Many were from the Chechen diaspora in Europe, particularly Austria. All told, 14 came from abroad. Two entered Georgia illegally from Russia, through Dagestan. 12 others entered the country legally: the first half in April-May 2012, the second in August. Some took a direct flight from Europe, others through Istanbul, yet others crossed the border from. Turkey at Sarpi. 11 had Russian passports which gave them to remain in Georgia without a visa. 7 had entry permits due to their status as Chechen refugees: three were issued in Austria, two in France, and one each in Finland and UK. The ombudsman claims that some were able to get Georgian passports with the aid of European embassies.
Thus these individuals came to Georgia weeks and even months before the battle. “Majority of them were Islamists, but some maintained contacts with Russian special services,” says Saakashvili loyalist and Georgia National Security Council Secretary Giga Bokeria. “Not a single European country warned us they were Islamists. Georgia’s MVD claims these individuals did not conceal their arrival in Georgia, so that the previous government knew everything about them.
10 of the militants were never caught. The ombudsman supposes the previous government’s officials helped them run away. One of them, nicknamed Abu Hamza, fought for two months in Syria, then returned to Austria. He gave an interview to a Foreign Policy journalist in Pankissi Gorge, shortly before the Boston attack. He said that about 100 Chechens were fighting against the Syrian government, but did not say anything about the Lopoto Gorge group.
A Chechen refugee in Austria
Merabi Margoshvili has no doubts his son Aslan was manipulated. In September 2011, the 22-year-old man dropped out of college. He said he was going to his friends in Finland. They were sending him money. He said he’d return in a year. But he returned in two months, saying it was too cold, and that he’ll go to Slovakia instead. I don’t know with whom.” In the end he turned up in Egypt. In March 2012 he returned to Georgia without telling his father. “Like others, he went to Egypt to study,” Merabi thinks. “He did not attend the mosque here, he hated the Wahhabites. Last summer, many Chechens from Europe came to Duisi. The government had a plan. They were manipulating the Chechens.”
Merabi believes in a conspiracy theory. He is sure he has a proof, which he already gave to the human rights defenders. It’s a license to carry weapons, specifically a Stechkin automatic pistol, issued to his son on July 23, 2012, a month before his death. Georgian MVD confirmed its authenticity, but claimed it was not difficult to obtain one. Why would a young man who just returned to the country need such a weapon? The ministry said that captured weapons were not listed in governmental inventories.
http://inosmi.ru/sngbaltia/20130516/209060736.html
And now for the logical finale of a “freedom fighter’s” career. Chataev resurfaced in the ranks of ISIS thanks to the efforts by Ukrainian fascists, European and Georgian human rights activists, a CIA agent, and the European Court of Human Rights.
February 2015. Syria. Abu-Jihad al-Shishani in the center, our hero sitting right next to him.
http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=039_1420585262&comments=1 – Here’s a video with these individuals, the “anti-Russian freedom fighter” Chataev appears starting at 12:20.
Here’s what attracts attention. In both cases, international terrorists were supported under the pretext of struggle against Russia. That was sufficient to justify their long-standing collaboration with terrorists. but now there is a problem, since the individual whom they helped bit the hand that fed him, moreover, the hand which was politically awkward to bite (though its also apparent that Chataev simply acquired a new boss and now he no longer serves the sponsors of Chechen militants but the Great Caliph himself). I won’t even mention the well-known cases of Chechen militants receiving treatment in Turkey, as well as Georgia or Ukraine, Turkey’s trade with ISIS, and using Turkey as a Caliphate recruiting outpost.
I will only say that the “anti-Russian fighter’s” attack against the Turkish airport places all the previous protectors of Chataev in a very difficult position, so now they will aggressively deny their direct involvement in international terrorism and instead blame Russia, even though nobody other than Russia wanted this individual arrested.
Oh, and for dessert:
May it please the High Court,
We, the members of the Independent International Human Rights Group, are petitioning the Bulgarian government to release a Chechen refugee, the father of four children, Akhmed Chataev, who is being persecuted by Russia for his political beliefs. According to available information, Akhmed Chataev had his hand cut off in a Russian concentration camp, where he was also tortured with electricity which was applied to the stump.
Given all the facts of the case, Akhmed Chataev was given the status of refugee in Austria in 2003, and is therefore under the protection of the Austrian state.
In 2010, Akhmed Chataev was arrested in Ukraine and was threatened with extradition to Russia, but the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg used Rule 39 to instruct Ukraine’s government that, due to his Austrian refugee status he could not be extradited to Russia.
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We believe that Bulgarian authorities’ actions are violating human rights principles, inflict injury not only to asylum seekers but also Bulgaria’s international image by demonstrating noncompliance with voluntarily accepted obligations.
Given all the facts of the case, we petition the Appeals Court of the Republic of Bulgaria to free Akhmed Chataev.
Respectfully, the members of the Independent International Human Rights Group
Viktoria Pupko–President, Anna Politkovskaya Foundation, USA
Mairbek Taramov–Director, Chechen Human Rights Center, Sweden
Nadezhda Banchik–journalist, member of Amnesty International USA
Said-Emin Ibragimov–President, World and Human Rights International Association, France
David Kudykov–journalist and writer, PEN-Club, UK
Maio Plado–human rights movement activist, Estonia
Source Article from https://uprootedpalestinians.wordpress.com/2016/07/04/akhmed-chataev-an-inconvenient-fighter-against-russia/
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