Akhmed Chatayev

Chatayev was born on 14 July 1980 in Vedeno village, Vedensky District, Chechnya, in the then Checheno-Ingush ASSR, in Soviet Russia.{{Cite web|url=https://www.treasury.gov/resource-center/sanctions/OFAC-Enforcement/Pages/20151005.aspx|title=OFAC Recent Actions|work=U.S. Department of the Treasury|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20151007015922/https://www.treasury.gov/resource-center/sanctions/OFAC-Enforcement/Pages/20151005.aspx|date=5 October 2015|archivedate=7 October 2015|accessdate=19 February 2025}}

He participated in the Second Chechen War and lost his arm in battle.{{cite web|url=https://meduza.io/feature/2016/06/30/verbovschik-odnorukiy|title=Вербовщик Однорукий Краткая биография Ахмеда Чатаева — предполагаемого организатора теракта в Стамбуле|trans-title= The one-armed Recruiter Brief biography of Ahmed Chatayev|work=Meduza|date=30 June 2016|access-date=19 February 2025|lang=ru}}

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.{{cite web|title=Chechen Risks Torture if Returned to Russia|url=https://www.amnesty.org/en/documents/eur50/001/2010/en/|work=Amnesty International|date=11 January 2010 |access-date=19 February 2025}}{{cite web|title=The short history of "Russian" terrorist Ahmet Chatayev|url=https://m.reddit.com/r/europe/comments/4qnpal/the_short_history_of_russian_terrorist_ahmet/|work=Reddit|date=30 June 2016|access-date=19 February 2025}}{{bsn|date=February 2025}}

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|date=December 2017}} 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|date=December 2017}}

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,{{cite news|title=Security Service Chief Unveils New Details on Chatayev's Case|url=http://civil.ge/eng/article.php?id=30698|access-date=19 February 2025|work=Civil Georgia|date=5 December 2017}} where he also was supported by an NGO called "Asyl in Not".{{cite web|url=https://www.amnesty.org/en/documents/eur50/002/2010/en/|title=Ukraine obliged to halt extradition: Ahmed Chataev : Further information|work=amnesty.org|date=22 January 2010|accessdate=19 February 2025}}{{cite web|url=http://www.asyl-in-not.org/uploads/wiener_zeitung_070711.pdf|archivedate=7 November 2019|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20191107014212/http://www.asyl-in-not.org/uploads/wiener_zeitung_070711.pdf|work=Asyl in Not}} In Austria he was given the name David Mayer and was able to live in a Gemeindebau.{{cite web|url=https://orf.at/v2/stories/2417197|title=Flughafenattentäter von Istanbul tot|work=orf.at|date=December 2017 |accessdate=19 February 2025}}{{cite web|url=https://www.diepresse.com/5071109/wie-osterreich-einen-bdquotopmannldquo-des-is-versorgte|title=Wie Österreich einen "Topmann" des IS versorgte|work=die Presse|accessdate=19 February 2025|date=30 August 2016}}

He appeared in an ISIS video in 2012 alongside Abu Jihad in Syria and was the commander of the Yarmouk Battalion.{{cite web|url=https://www.rferl.org/a/russia-lopota-gorge-incident-islamic-state-syria/26869379.html|title=Russian Citizen Linked To Lopota Gorge Incident Now Heads IS Battalion In Syria|work=Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty|access-date=18 April 2025|date=25 February 2015}}

He is thought to have planned the 2016 Istanbul airport attack, which killed 44 people.{{cite web|author1=Faith Karimi|author2=Steve Almasy|url=http://edition.cnn.com/2016/07/01/europe/turkey-istanbul-ataturk-airport-attack/|title=Istanbul airport attack: Planner, 2 bombers identified, report says|work=CNN|date=2 July 2016|access-date=19 February 2025}}{{cite web|url=http://www.ibtimes.co.uk/istanbul-airport-attack-one-armed-akhmed-chataev-reportedly-behind-ataturk-massacre-1568359|title=Istanbul airport attack: One-armed Akhmed Chataev reportedly behind Ataturk massacre|website=International Business Times|author=William Watkinson|date=30 June 2016|access-date=19 February 2025}}{{cite web|author1=William M. Arkin|author2=Mansur Mirovalev|author3=Corky Siemaszko|url=http://www.nbcnews.com/storyline/istanbul-ataturk-airport-attack/chechen-akhmed-chatayev-called-suspected-planner-istanbul-attack-n602401|title=Chechen Akhmed Chatayev Is Called Suspected Planner of Istanbul Attack|work=NBC News|access-date=19 February 2025|date=1 July 2016}}{{cite news|author=Charles Miranda|url=http://www.news.com.au/world/middle-east/istanbul-probes-suspect-onearmed-mastermind-akhmed-chatayev-as-the-organiser-of-the-terror-attack/news-story/2117deb80747670a9ebba0ab25be4b8a|title=Istanbul probes suspect one-armed mastermind Akhmed Chatayev as the organiser of the terror attack|newspaper=News.com.au|date=July 2016|access-date=19 February 2025}}{{cite web|url=http://www.interpressnews.ge/en/world/79472-turkish-government-does-not-confirm-akhmed-chatayevs-participation-in-ataturk-airport-attack.html?ar=A|title=Turkish government does not confirm Akhmed Chatayev's participation in Ataturk Airport attack|work=InterpressNews|date=11 March 2016|access-date=19 February 2025|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20160818060939/http://www.interpressnews.ge/en/world/79472-turkish-government-does-not-confirm-akhmed-chatayevs-participation-in-ataturk-airport-attack.html?ar=A|archivedate=18 August 2016}}

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.{{cite web|title=Treasury Sanctions Individuals Affiliated With Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, and Caucasus Emirate|url=https://www.treasury.gov/press-center/press-releases/Pages/jl0199.aspx|website=U.S. Dept. of the Treasury|access-date=16 December 2016}} 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."{{Cite web|url=https://www.un.org/sc/suborg/en/sanctions/1267/aq_sanctions_list/summaries/individual/akhmed-rajapovich-chataev|title=Akhmed Rajapovich Chataev|accessdate=19 February 2025|work=United Nations Security Council}}

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.{{Cite news|url=https://www.reuters.com/article/us-mideast-crisis-georgia-islamic-state/suspected-istanbul-airport-bomber-thought-killed-in-georgia-three-sources-idUSKBN1DS1Y3|title=Suspected Istanbul airport bomber thought killed in Georgia: three sources|date=30 November 2017|work=Reuters|access-date=19 February 2025|author1=Margarita Antidze}} 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.{{cite news|title=Chatayev among Killed Suspects, Security Service Confirms|url=http://civil.ge/eng/article.php?id=30690|access-date=19 February 2025|work=Civil Georgia|date=1 December 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171218190309/http://civil.ge/eng/article.php?id=30690|archive-date=18 December 2017}}

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,{{cite web|work=Office of Foreign Assets Control|url=https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2015/10/08/2015-25618/sanctions-actions-pursuant-to-executive-order-13224|title=Sanctions Actions Pursuant to Executive Order 13224|date=10 August 2015|accessdate=19 February 2025}} he is now listed as connected to IS.{{cite web|work=Office of Foreign Assets Control|url=https://www.federalregister.gov/d/2022-07968|title=Notice of OFAC Sanctions Action|date=14 April 2022|accessdate=19 February 2025}}

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Category:1980 births

Category:2017 deaths

Category:2017 suicides

Category:Chechen Islamists

Category:Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant members

Category:Islamic terrorism in Georgia (country)

Category:Islamist mass murderers

Category:People from Vedensky District

Category:People shot dead by law enforcement officers in Georgia (country)

Category:Suicides by explosive device

Category:Terrorism in Georgia (country)