Turpal-Ali Aladiyevich Atgeriyev | |
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| Born | (1969-05-08)8 May 1969 Alleroy,Checheno-Ingush ASSR,Russian SFSR,USSR |
| Died | 18 August 2002(2002-08-18) (aged 33) Yekaterinburg, Russia |
| Allegiance |  Confederation of Mountain Peoples of the Caucasus Chechen Republic of Ichkeria |
| Years of service | 1992–2002 |
| Rank | Brigadier General |
| Battles / wars | |
Turpal-Ali Aladiyevich Atgeriyev (8 May 1969[1] – 18 August 2002) was adeputy prime minister,national security minister ofChechnya.
Atgeriev was a former Soviet traffic police officer and a veteran of theGeorgian-Abkhazian War. During theFirst Chechen War he coordinated all units during the battles ofGrozny and served as a field commander of theShelkovsky District of Chechnya, including taking part in the 1996Kizlyar-Pervomayskoye hostage crisis inDagestan. Later, he became a Deputy Prime Minister in the government of the ChechenPresidentAslan Maskhadov.
In July 1999, while trying to engage in talks with the Russian side, Atgeriev was briefly arrested at Moscow'sVnukovo airport together with Chechen DeputyProsecutor-GeneralAdam Torkhashev and twoofficials from the Moscow office of the ChechenInterior Ministry. He has twice told Russian media that he alerted the thenFederal Security Service of the Russian Federation (FSB) DirectorVladimir Putin in the summer of 1999 to the imminentincursion into Dagestan.[2] Atgeriev did not take active part in theSecond Chechen War (at this time, he had no armed men under his command besides his personalbodyguards). Nevertheless, he was falsely implicated in the scandalous prisoner swap ofAndrei Babitsky, a Russian journalist kidnapped by the Russian military.[3][4]
Atgeriev, whomNezavisimaya Gazeta termed "the last remaining member of the Chechen leadership who is unequivocally loyal to President Aslan Maskhadov," was captured in October 2000 and sentenced to 15 years in prison. On 18 August 2002, while serving the sentence inYekaterinburg prison, Atgeriev mysteriously died from "internal bleeding" that was attributed toleukemia.[5] The Chechen Deputy PremierAkhmed Zakayev accused the Russian authorities of murdering Atgeriev.[2] His relatives claimed he wastortured to death.[6] The case was highlighted in theopen letter byMemorial to Putin.[7]