Ruslan Odizhev

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Ruslan Anatolyevich Odizhev, or Руслан Анатольевич Одижев in Russian, (born December 5, 1973 at Prokhladny, Kabardino-Balkar Republic of southern Russia, as Ruslan Anatolyevich Selyeznyov or Селезнёв in Russian, died June 27, 2007 in Nalchik, Kabardino-Balkar Republic) was a citizen of Russia who was held in extrajudicial detention in the United States Guantanamo Bay detention camps, in Cuba.^[1] His Guantanamo Internee Security Number was 211.

1 Life
2 Combatant Status Review Tribunal
3 References
4 Source

[edit] Life

When he was six, Ruslan Anatolyevich Selyeznyov's parents divorced and he went to live with his mother in the neighbouring town of Nalchik. At school, he was very interested in religion and Islamic history. At the age of 18, he dropped the Russian name Selyeznyov for the more Islamic name Odizhev and joined the then recently opened Islamic Institute, where he studied one year, before joining the Confederation of Caucasus Peoples' Kabardin Battalion who fought in the Abkhaz rebellion against Georgia in 1992. When the barge that his platoon was on, sank, he had to stay in ice-cold water for hours and damaged his lungs.^[2]. One year later, he returned to the Islamic Institute, but soon left it to study at Imam Muhammad ibn Saud Islamic University in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. He came back in 1994.

From 1999, Ruslan Odizhev was targeted by the FSB who suspected him of participation in terrorist activities, particularly the Russian apartment bombings. In May 2000, he was taken away from home by masked men to be interrogated, and according to claims by him and his mother, tortured by the FSB in Pyatigorsk. He was released ten days later. The FSB denied all involvement.

Ruslan left Nalchik, telling his mother that he was going to Pakistan to complete his religious studies. He was however taken as a prisoner of war by American forces, and sent to Guantanamo prison.

On February 27th, 2004, Ruslan, together with six other persons of Russian nationality (including Rasul Kudayev, who also lived in Nalchik) was extradited to Russia. All seven ex-prisoners were sent to the White Swan isolation camp at Pyatigorsk on charges of illegally crossing Russian borders and being a mercenary. In June 2004, it was decided that the charges could not be proven and all seven accused were freed.

Back in Nalchik, according to Russian Omon, Ruslan soon became re-acquainted with Anzor Astemirov, an Islamic cleric who claimed being connected to Shamil Basayev and a friend of Ruslan from 2000^[2].

On June 14, 2006, Odizhev was included among a list of those who had taken part in the 2005 Nalchik raid, published on the internet by the MVD of the Kabardino-Balkar Republic. According to the police, Ruslan Odizhev had headed the group of fighters who attacked OMON headquarters^[3].

On June 27, 2006, Ruslan Odizhev was killed in the centre of Nalchik, in an apartment block on Schokenzukov Prospekt, facing the local (official) mosque, while resisting arrest, together with Anzor Tengizov. Police authorities reiterated that charges against Odizhev included involvement in the 1999 bombings^[4]. Geydar Dzhemal', of the Islamic Committee of Russia, claimed that Odizhev's guilt had not been established and that he could have been captured alive.^[5].

[edit] Combatant Status Review Tribunal

Combatant Status Review Tribunal notice read to a Guantanamo captive.

Initially the Bush administration asserted that they could withhold all the protections of the Geneva Conventions to captives from the war on terror. This policy was challenged before the Judicial branch. Critics argued that the USA could not evade its obligation to conduct competent tribunals to determine whether captives are, or are not, entitled to the protections of prisoner of war status.

Subsequently the Department of Defense instituted the Combatant Status Review Tribunals. The Tribunals, however, were not authorized to determine whether the captives were lawful combatants -- rather they were merely empowered to make a recommendation as to whether the captive had previously been correctly determined to match the Bush administration's definition of an enemy combatant.

There is no record that Ruslan Anatolyevich Odizhev participated in his Combatant Status Review Tribunal.