Chechen 'Lone Wolf' to be tried

MOSCOW, Russia -- One of the most high profile Chechen rebel commanders, alleged to have taken hundreds of hostages, will go on trial next week.

Salman Raduyev will be tried in the neighbouring republic of Dagestan after being captured by the Russians last year, a court spokeswoman said on Thursday.

Raduyev, whose trademarks are his beard and sunglasses, earned notoriety by allegedly leading several bloody hostage-taking raids from Chechnya.

At least 43 kidnap victims died when more than 2,000 hostages in the Dagestan village of Kizlyar were allegedly taken during a 1996 raid by Raduyev's "Lone Wolf" band.

The trial, scheduled to open on November 15 is expected to last two months. It will be open to the public, but testimony involving state secrets could be closed.

Raduyev, renowned for his anti-Russian rhetoric, was the first top commander from Chechnya to fall into Moscow's hands.

Several others remain at large despite a massive Russian military presence in the small region which is half the size of Belgium.

A court spokeswoman said many hundreds of witnesses would be invited to take part in the trial.

An Islamic court in Chechnya sentenced Raduyev to four years in prison in his absence for an armed uprising against the region's former president Aslan Maskhadov in 1998 but made no attempt to arrest him.