Family of Canadian slain in Chechnya doubts Russian officials' story of death
Tue Oct 12,11:23 PM ET
STEVE MERTL
VANCOUVER (CP) - The family of a Canadian slain by Russian security forces in Chechnya (news - web sites) wants his body returned to Canada.
Consular officials, however, have not yet heard when or if his remains will be released, a government official said Tuesday. Radwan Khalil, 26, was reported killed last week with three others in a skirmish with Russian special forces. It's believed his family may want an autopsy performed in Canada. "It's definitely up to the family to request one from the provincial authorities, probably the coroner's office," said an official with the Department of Foreign Affairs in Ottawa.
Russian defence officials on Friday described Khalil, a resident of Vancouver, as an explosives expert who entered Chechnya from the neighbouring Russian region of Dagestan accompanied by three gunmen.
One official said he arrived in Russia last month on a tourist visa but another claimed he'd entered the country Aug. 24. Khalil's Canadian passport and British Columbia driver's licence were displayed on Russian television on Friday.
Foreign Affairs has received no new information from Russian authorities regarding the circumstances of Khalil's death, the official said Tuesday.
The department's consular section was in touch with Khalil's family in Canada over the weekend, he said, adding the family doesn't "believe the Russians' version."
A man identifying himself as Khalil's brother told The Canadian Press on Friday the family believed Khalil was visiting his father in Saudi Arabia, looking for a job and attending a friend's wedding.
He expressed shock and surprised when told Khalil was reported killed in Chechnya.
In its bloody conflict with Chechen separatists, critics have accused the Russian military of arbitrarily arresting and killing young men suspected of taking part in the decade-old insurrection.
Russian authorities claim the men killed with Khalil belonged to a group headed by top Chechen commander Akhmed Avdorkhanov.
Although raised in Vancouver, Khalil apparently was born in Kassala, a city in eastern Sudan near the border with Eritrea.
It's not clear when he or his family emigrated to Canada. His brother called him "a Vancouver kid. He was raised here."
No one from the family would be interviewed Tuesday.
The report of Khalil's death came just days before Prime Minister Paul Martin's meeting Tuesday with Russian President Vladimir Putin (news - web sites) in Moscow.
The two leaders discussed issues surrounding the international war on terror but the Khalil case did not come up.
"From the information that I have, the official information that is coming from Moscow, the issue wasn't raised," said Alexey Kisenkov, press attache at the Russian embassy in Ottawa.
The Ottawa official confirmed neither Martin nor his officials raised Khalil's death with Putin or his staff but Canadian embassy officials were discussing it with the Russian Foreign Ministry.
In a joint statement, Putin and Martin agreed human rights and the rule of law would not take a back seat to the war on terror.
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Because our son could never be a terrorist who lied to his own family! Russia must be randomly killing muslim travellers to Saudi Arabia who somehow got diverted to Chechnya.