Akhmed Chatayev

Russian militant

Akhmed Rajapovich Chatayev

Born| 14 July 1980

Vedeno, Vedensky District, Chechnya, Russian SFSR, USSR

Died| 22 November 2017(2017-11-22) (aged 37)

Tbilisi, Georgia

Known for| Planning the 2016 Atatürk Airport attack

Akhmed Chatayev, Ahmad Shishani[1] (Russian: Ахмед Чатаев, Ахмад Шишани;[2] 14 July 1980 – 22 November 2017) was a Chechen militant and Islamic State leader who is thought to have been the planner of the 2016 Istanbul airport attack and was one of the Chechen mujahideen in Syria. He was killed in a shootout with Georgian security forces in Tbilisi on 22 November 2017.

## Biography

[edit]

### Early life

[edit]

Chatayev was born on 14 July 1980 in Vedeno village, Vedensky District, Chechnya, in the then Checheno-Ingush ASSR, in Soviet Russia.[3]

### Second Chechen War

[edit]

He participated in the Second Chechen War and lost his arm in battle.[4]

### Europe

[edit]

He then fled Russia in 2001 to Austria where he was granted refugee status in 2003. In 2008 he and several other Chechens were detained in the Swedish town of Trelleborg. Police found weapons in his car and he spent more than a year in a local prison.

On 3 January 2010, he was detained in Uzhhorod in western Ukraine. According to Interior Minister Yuriy Lutsenko, his mobile phone contained instructions for explosives, as well as photographs of those killed in explosions. He faced extradition to Russia but on 14 January, after strong protests by Amnesty International, which claimed he could face torture if he was returned to Russia, the European Court of Human Rights called upon the Ukrainian authorities not to extradite him.[5][6][better source needed]

Since the European Court of Human Rights forbade his deportation to Russia, the Ukrainians sent him to Georgia where he was accused of a certain crime committed in the 2000s. For a while, he was probably held in a Georgian prison but then was freed, got married and stayed in Georgia.[citation needed] On 19 May 2011, Chatayev was detained at the Bulgarian-Turkish border. The Bulgarian court first ruled to extradite him to Russia, but the appellate court reversed the decision.[citation needed]

In August 2012, Chatayev reappeared in Georgia, where he was wounded, losing his foot, and arrested in the Lopota incident, a skirmish between the Georgian police and Caucasian militants, near the Dagestan section of the border with Russia. He was soon released from jail on bail. In January 2013, Georgian prosecutors dropped the case against him on account of the absence of evidence. Soon he left Georgia with the declared intention to travel to Austria for rehabilitation,[7] where he also was supported by an NGO called "Asyl in Not".[8][9] In Austria he was given the name David Mayer and was able to live in a Gemeindebau.[10][11]

### Syria

[edit]

He appeared in an ISIS video in 2012 alongside Abu Jihad in Syria and was the commander of the Yarmouk Battalion.[12]

He is thought to have planned the 2016 Istanbul airport attack, which killed 44 people.[13][14][15][16][17]

## UN sanctions

[edit]

In October 2015, Chatayev was designated as a foreign terrorist by the United Nations Security Council and the U.S. Department of the Treasury and thus subject to sanctions.[18] According to the UN, "In September 2007, Chataev organized a delivery to the Chechen Republic, Russian Federation, consisting of US$12,000, military uniforms, a personal computer and audio equipment for the terrorists operating in the Northern Caucasus." Further, it is alleged, "He directly commands 130 militants and calls on Muslims to join the armed fight against the official authorities in Syrian Arab Republic, Iraq, and other countries with the aim of establishing a caliphate. Chataev is responsible for training and redeploying Russian-speaking IS militants from the Syrian Arab Republic and Iraq to the Russian Federation with a view to setting up IS cells and conducting terrorist acts. He is the organizer and mastermind of planned IS terrorist acts against Russian diplomatic missions abroad."[19]

## Death

[edit]

In November 2017, the Georgian State Security Service said Chatayev was likely to have been killed in a 20-hour counter-terrorism operation in Tbilisi on 22 November which killed one Georgian special forces serviceman and three members of an armed terrorist group. Four police officers were wounded and one member of the group was arrested.[20] The security officials later confirmed that Chatayev was killed in the shootout when he blew himself up. His body was identified by DNA and fingerprint analysis.[21]

For unstated reasons, the Office of Foreign Assets Control updated their entry for Chatayev on the Specially Designated Nationals and Blocked Persons List. Originally listed as sanctioned due to connection to Jama'at al-Tawhid wal-Jihad,[22] he is now listed as connected to IS.[23]

## References

[edit]

1. ^ "Из Чечни в Сирию: Что произошло после присяги амиров ИК Багдади?". From Chechnya To Syria (in Russian). 12 June 2019. Archived from the original on 14 January 2021. Retrieved 19 February 2025.
2. ^ Узел, Кавказский. "Чатаев Ахмед Раджапович". Кавказский Узел. Retrieved 19 February 2025.
3. ^ "OFAC Recent Actions". U.S. Department of the Treasury. 5 October 2015. Archived from the original on 7 October 2015. Retrieved 19 February 2025.
4. ^ "Вербовщик Однорукий Краткая биография Ахмеда Чатаева — предполагаемого организатора теракта в Стамбуле" [The one-armed Recruiter Brief biography of Ahmed Chatayev]. Meduza (in Russian). 30 June 2016. Retrieved 19 February 2025.
5. ^ "Chechen Risks Torture if Returned to Russia". Amnesty International. 11 January 2010. Retrieved 19 February 2025.
6. ^ "The short history of "Russian" terrorist Ahmet Chatayev". Reddit. 30 June 2016. Retrieved 19 February 2025.
7. ^ "Security Service Chief Unveils New Details on Chatayev's Case". Civil Georgia. 5 December 2017. Retrieved 19 February 2025.
8. ^ "Ukraine obliged to halt extradition: Ahmed Chataev : Further information". amnesty.org. 22 January 2010. Retrieved 19 February 2025.
9. ^ Asyl in Not https://web.archive.org/web/20191107014212/http://www.asyl-in-not.org/uploads/wiener_zeitung_070711.pdf. Archived from the original (PDF) on 7 November 2019. `{{cite web}}`: Missing or empty `|title=` (help)
10. ^ "Flughafenattentäter von Istanbul tot". orf.at. December 2017. Retrieved 19 February 2025.
11. ^ "Wie Österreich einen "Topmann" des IS versorgte". die Presse. 30 August 2016. Retrieved 19 February 2025.
12. ^ "Russian Citizen Linked To Lopota Gorge Incident Now Heads IS Battalion In Syria". Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty. 25 February 2015. Retrieved 18 April 2025.
13. ^ Faith Karimi; Steve Almasy (2 July 2016). "Istanbul airport attack: Planner, 2 bombers identified, report says". CNN. Retrieved 19 February 2025.
14. ^ William Watkinson (30 June 2016). "Istanbul airport attack: One-armed Akhmed Chataev reportedly behind Ataturk massacre". International Business Times. Retrieved 19 February 2025.
15. ^ William M. Arkin; Mansur Mirovalev; Corky Siemaszko (1 July 2016). "Chechen Akhmed Chatayev Is Called Suspected Planner of Istanbul Attack". NBC News. Retrieved 19 February 2025.
16. ^ Charles Miranda (July 2016). "Istanbul probes suspect one-armed mastermind Akhmed Chatayev as the organiser of the terror attack". News.com.au. Retrieved 19 February 2025.
17. ^ "Turkish government does not confirm Akhmed Chatayev's participation in Ataturk Airport attack". InterpressNews. 11 March 2016. Archived from the original on 18 August 2016. Retrieved 19 February 2025.
18. ^ "Treasury Sanctions Individuals Affiliated With Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, and Caucasus Emirate". U.S. Dept. of the Treasury. Retrieved 16 December 2016.
19. ^ "Akhmed Rajapovich Chataev". United Nations Security Council. Retrieved 19 February 2025.
20. ^ Margarita Antidze (30 November 2017). "Suspected Istanbul airport bomber thought killed in Georgia: three sources". Reuters. Retrieved 19 February 2025.
21. ^ "Chatayev among Killed Suspects, Security Service Confirms". Civil Georgia. 1 December 2017. Archived from the original on 18 December 2017. Retrieved 19 February 2025.
22. ^ "Sanctions Actions Pursuant to Executive Order 13224". Office of Foreign Assets Control. 10 August 2015. Retrieved 19 February 2025.
23. ^ "Notice of OFAC Sanctions Action". Office of Foreign Assets Control. 14 April 2022. Retrieved 19 February 2025.