Vol. 8 Issue 7 - Public International Law & Policy Group

"How can we go on without the main witness?" said a representative of the European Centre
for Constitutional and Human Rights (ECCHR), which filed a complaint last June in Vienna.
"The names of other witnesses appear in the claim, we can only hope they will be able to
come to court," he added.
The Berlin-based centre tried in June to have Kadyrov arrested, following rumors that the
soccer fan planned to attend a European football championship match in Austria.
The ECCHR filed its complaint in a hurry on June 13, based on the UN Convention against
Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment.
But the prosecutor's office in Vienna replied there was no justification to have the pro-
Russian leader arrested.
"I was told that the complaint was based on Israilov's allegations and that he had already
made them when he requested asylum," said Israilov's lawyer, who refused to be named and
who is now under police protection.
"And yet, he was deemed credible enough to be given refugee status," she noted with
astonishment.
"The authorities' attitude was much too cautious," added another judicial source close to the
case, who said she also feared reprisals.
"If it had been an average person, this would have been enough to arrest him. And Israilov
could still be alive," she said.
The authorities meanwhile seem confused as to whether Kadyrov ever ventured onto
Austrian soil last summer.
According to the interior ministry, the Chechen president "did not come to Austria," while a
prosecution spokesperson in Vienna claimed that by the time Israilov's lawyers had filed their
claim, Kadyrov was no longer in the country.
Moreover, there have been several official blunders in this case.
Early on, Interior Minister Maria Fekter said Israilov had refused all police protection, before
having to go back on her words.
A letter and an exchange of emails, of which AFP received a copy, show that the former
rebel had made several requests for protection from July 2008 until a few days before his
murder.