COMMENTARY
The Associated Press and other U.S. mainstream media have been reporting the arrest of former head of the Chechen government-in-exile by Polish authorities in recent days. Zakaev, who arrived in Warsaw for a congress of Chechens, was soon released and is not to be extradited to Russia. Russian authorities want to try him for his activities as a separatist fighter and then a member of the Chechen Republic of Ichkeria (ChRI) insurgency which became a largely jihadist movement. This began in 2002 after the ChRI’s forces defeat on the traditional battlefield in the second Russo-Chechen war. Specifically Zakhaev is charged with murder and organizing a revolt, among others. Polish authorities stated that they decided not to extradite Zakaev because he had received political asylum in Great Britain.
Unfortunately, the media have not covered the full Zakaev story, ignoring his long record as the ChRI insurgency’s culture minister and in the second ...