Belgian authorities have extradited a 30-year-old Russian citizen at the request of Russia’s law enforcement agencies, the FSB said in a statement on Saturday. The man, identified as Ali Gekhaev, a radical Islamist, is accused of rendering financial support to Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS). He had lived in the EU since 2015, according to the intelligence service. </s> Source: Xinhua| 2018-09-15 19:22:35|Editor: xuxin

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MOSCOW, Sept. 15 (Xinhua) -- Internationally wanted Russian citizen Ali Gekhaev suspected of financially supporting the Islamic State (IS) was extradited from Belgium to Russia Friday, the Russian Federal Security Service (FSB) said Saturday.

The man, born in 1988, had lived in the territory of the European Union since 2015, where he financially supported IS militants in Syria, the FSB said in a press release.

In May 2017, Gekhaev was detained in Brussels and placed under pre-extradition arrest.

Further search and investigation are underway, said the FSB. </s> "Russia's Federal Security Service together with the Russian Prosecutor General's Office, the Russian Interior Ministry's National Central Bureaus of Interpol and the Russian Federal Penitentiary Service organized the extradition from Belgium of an internationally wanted Russian citizen Gekhaev Ali Abdul-Mutalipovich, born 1988," the statement said.

According to the statement, Gehaev was a supporter of radical Islam, since 2015 has lived in the territory of the European Union, from where he financed the militants of the Daesh terrorist group in Syria.

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In May 2017, he was detained in Brussels and placed under pre-extradition arrest, the statement said.

Ali Gekhaev was extradited to Russia on September 14.

*Daesh (also known as ISIS/ISIL/IS) is a terrorist group banned in Russia </s> MOSCOW, September 15. /TASS/. A Russian national accused of financing militants of the Islamic State terrorist organization (outlawed in Russia) in Syria has been extradited from Belgium, a source in the Center for Public Relations (CPR) of the Russian Federal Security Service told TASS.

"The Federal Security Service of the Russian Federation in association with the Russian General Prosecutor’s Office, the Interpol National Central Bureau (NCB) at the Russian Interior Ministry and the Russian Federal Penitentiary Service have extradited a Russian citizen Ali Abdul-Mutalipovich Gekhayev, born in 1988, who is on the international wanted list, from Belgium. Being a supporter of radical Islam, Gekhayev has lived full-time on the territory of the European Union countries since 2015, from which he provided financial support to the militants of the international terrorist organization ‘Islamic State’ banned in the Russian Federation in Syria," the CPR said.

In May 2017, based on the finding of the Russian side the accused was detained in Brussels and placed under pre-extradition arrest, the Center for Public Relations said. "As a result of coordinated efforts of Russian law enforcement bodies the supplied evidence of criminal activity of the wanted person allowed the Belgian authorities to comply with the extradition request," the CPR added.

On September 14, Gekhayev was extradited to Russia. Further investigative activities and search measures are being carried out. </s> Argentina has asked Russia to arrest former Iranian foreign minister Ali Akbar Velayati for extradition in connection with the 1994 bombing of a Jewish center in Buenos Aires, the foreign ministry said Thursday.

Velayati is in Russia as a special advisor to President Hassan Rouhani and will travel to China on Friday, so the same request has also been made to Chinese authorities, the foreign ministry said in a statement.

Argentina is awaiting a response from Russia to the request, which was made "within the framework of the extradition treaty between the two countries," the statement said.

Velayati was foreign minister when a bomb destroyed the headquarters of the Argentine Israelite Mutual Association (AMIA) on July 18, 1994 leaving 85 dead and 300 people wounded.

He is charged with "committing the crime of homicide, classified as doubly aggravated for having been committed with racial or religious hatred and a suitable method to cause widespread danger," according to the judge responsible for the case.

Lebanon's Shiite Hezbollah group is accused of the carrying out the bombing of the Jewish center and an attack on Israel's embassy in Buenos Aires two years earlier at Iran's demand. </s> BUENOS AIRES, July 13 — Argentina has asked Russia to arrest former Iranian foreign minister Ali Akbar Velayati for extradition in connection with the 1994 bombing of a Jewish center in Buenos Aires, the foreign ministry said yesterday.

Velayati is in Russia as a special advisor to President Hassan Rouhani and will travel to China today, so the same request has also been made to Chinese authorities, the foreign ministry said in a statement.

Argentina is awaiting a response from Russia to the request, which was made “within the framework of the extradition treaty between the two countries,” the statement said.

Velayati was foreign minister when a bomb destroyed the headquarters of the Argentine Israelite Mutual Association (AMIA) on July 18, 1994 leaving 85 dead and 300 people wounded.

He is charged with “committing the crime of homicide, classified as doubly aggravated for having been committed with racial or religious hatred and a suitable method to cause widespread danger,” according to the judge responsible for the case.

Lebanon’s Shiah Hezbollah group is accused of the carrying out the bombing of the Jewish center and an attack on Israel’s embassy in Buenos Aires two years earlier at Iran’s demand. — AFP </s> Russia says France has extradited a former regional finance official to face trial on multiple counts of fraud, misuse of funds, and money laundering following a long legal battle.

Aleksei Kuznetsov was "extradited to Russia accompanied by staff from the Russian prison service and the Russian bureau of Interpol," the international police agency, the Prosecutor-General's office said on January 3.

There were no immediate comments from French authorities.

Kuznetsov served as finance minister for the Moscow region between 2000 and 2008.

According to investigators, he, along with "accomplices," caused losses of more than 11 billion rubles ($160 million) to the regional government.

The money was allegedly used to buy property abroad.

Kuznetsov was arrested in southern France in the summer of 2013 and appealed against his extradition in French courts over the following years.

In January 2018, a Russian court convicted Kuznetsov's former wife, Janna Bullock, of large-scale fraud and money laundering and sentenced her to 11 years in prison after a trial in absentia.

Bullock is an American citizen and the United States refuses to extradite her to Russia.

She has said she and her ex-husband were victims of corruption in Russia.

Based on reporting by AFP, TASS, and Interfax </s> France has extradited a former finance minister of the Moscow region suspected of embezzling $200 million, five years after Russian prosecutors had put in an extradition request.

Alexei Kuznetsov was put on an international wanted list after he left Russia in 2008 for charges of fraud, embezzlement and money laundering. Prosecutors believe the former minister, who faces up to 10 years in prison if convicted, embezzled 14 billion rubles ($202.7 million) with his accomplices.

In a statement on Thursday, the Russian Prosecutor General’s Office said that Kuznetsov had been extradited to Russia. </s> BRUSSELS (AP) — A married couple with Iranian roots was arrested "just in time" as they allegedly prepared to head to France from Belgium to bomb a large rally an Iranian opposition group held over the weekend, authorities said Monday.

The federal prosecutor's office said the Belgian citizens were charged with "attempt at terrorist murder and preparing a terrorist crime" against the opposition group, the Mujahedeen-e-Khalq. U.S. President Donald Trump's personal lawyer, Rudy Giuliani, was among the speakers at the Saturday rally in the town of Villepinte near Paris.

Investigators who detained the couple on Saturday and searched their car found about half a kilogram (more than a pound) of TATP explosives and a detonator, federal magistrate Eric Van der Sijpt said.

A half-kilogram of TATP could cause a sizeable explosion, and in a crowd estimated to have reached 25,000, considerable bloodshed and widespread panic.

"We can say we arrested them just in time," Van der Sijpt told The Associated Press.

As well as Iranian exiles, there were several American speakers at the event, which took place in a packed hall at an exhibition center north of Paris.

"All I can say is that they were planning a terrorist attack at a conference. I don't know if they were targeting somebody special," Van der Sijpt said.

The Belgian prosecutors' office said Belgian security services, France's domestic intelligence service and German judicial authorities had been instrumental in preventing another terror attack in France.

Police raided five homes after the couple was detained, but did not disclose if they found additional evidence.

A man detained in Germany "seems to be an Iranian diplomat attached to the Iranian Embassy in Vienna, in Austria," Van der Sijpt said.

Three people also were detained for questioning in France. Investigators worked to determine their relationships with the Belgian suspects, according to a French judicial source who discussed the ongoing investigation on condition of anonymity.

The Mujahedeen-e-Khalq, widely known as MEK, is an exiled Iranian opposition group detested by the Islamic Republic of Iran, which refers to them as "hypocrites."

The formerly armed group had been on European Union and U.S. terrorism lists before being delisted from both. The weekend rally, called "Free Iran 2018 — The Alternative," sought to plant the seeds for regime change in Iran.

"Regime change in Iran is within reach as never before," leader Maryam Rajavi said at the event.

Trump's recent appointment of John Bolton, who spoke at a MEK rally before he became national security adviser, and the president's choice of Giuliani, a regular MEK headliner, as his lead lawyer, are seen as moves that could potentially strengthen the group's bid for U.S. backing.

TATP, the explosive Belgian authorities said was found in the couple's car, has been used in several terrorist attacks in Europe in recent years, including the 2016 bomb attacks in Brussels which killed 32 people.

Elaine Ganley and Lori Hinnant in Paris and Frank Jordans in Berlin contributed to this report.
The Russian FSB says that Belgium has extradited Ali Gekhaev, a suspect wanted for financing ISIL militants in Syria.