Two men accused of killing Chechen commander Ruslan Yamadayev also plotted to assassinate his brother Sulim, their younger brother Isa told Moscow City Court on Thursday.
Prosecutors have charged Aslanbek Dadayev and Elim-Pasha Khatsuyev with killing Ruslan Yamadayev, a former State Duma deputy and powerful rival of Chechen President Ramzan Kadyrov.
Khatsuyev is accused of driving the BMW that pulled up to the Mercedes driven by Yamadayev during Moscow rush-hour traffic in September 2008. Dadayev is accused of firing 16 bullets from within the BMW, killing Yamadayev and injuring former Chechen military commander Sergei Kizyun, who was sitting next to Yamadayev.Both deny the charges, although Khatsuyev has admitted to possessing illegal firearms.
Isa Yamadayev said Sulim had told him that both defendants flew to Dubai in December 2008, about three months before Sulim was killed. "He knew they were plotting to kill him, and their plan was foiled," he said.
Sulim was gunned down on March 28, 2009, after parking his car in his Dubai luxury housing compound.
In April, a Dubai court convicted an Iranian and a Tajik in Sulim's killing and sentenced them to 25 years in prison. Dubai police have issued arrest warrants through Interpol for seven more suspects, including Khatsuyev and Duma Deputy Adam Delimkhanov, a cousin of Kadyrov's accused of masterminding the attack.
It is unclear what role Khatsuyev is suspected of having played in the Dubai shooting. A duty officer with Dubai police reached by phone Thursday said nobody would be available for comment until Sunday.
In July 2009, a former bodyguard attempted to kill Isa Yamadayev. The bodyguard, Khavazhi Yusupov, has told investigators that Kadyrov personally ordered the killings of Ruslan and Sulim Yamadayev and offered $1 million to kill Isa. He was sentenced to 8 ½ years in prison last month.
Both Delimkhanov and Kadyrov have denied any involvement in the Yamadayev murders.
But Isa Yamadayev reiterated Thursday that the Chechen president might be behind the killings. "We have no enemies and no blood feud except the conflict with Kadyrov. I suspect that this could have only been done by Kadyrov or someone who just wants to make us enemies," he said.
Yamadayev also accused Khatsuyev and Dadayev of working as contract killers. "Their only motivation is money," he said, adding that he was convinced of their guilt after reading court papers.
Yamadayev has been put under special protection and was escorted by masked guards armed with automatic guns at Wednesday's hearing.
General Kizyun, who survived the attack on Ruslan Yamadayev, was also questioned by the court Thursday. Speaking over an intercom from an undisclosed location within the courthouse and with an electronic voice alteration, he said he had recognized Dadayev even though he was wearing a mask during the attack. "He had the same eyes," he said, RIA-Novosti reported.
A third defendant in the trial, Timur Isayev, is accused of participating in the killing of banker Alexander Antonov in Moscow on March 11, 2009. In that shooting, which happened two weeks before the attack on Sulim in Dubai, Dadayev is accused of driving the getaway car.
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