18 Facts About Arbi Barayev

Arbi Alautdinovich Barayev was a Chechen warlord who in 1996 became the founder and first leader of the Special Purpose Islamic Regiment in Chechnya.

Arbi Barayev was a martial arts fan in his youth, and became a police officer in 1990 at the age of 16.

In 1994 the First Chechen War began, where Arbi Barayev fought on the Chechen separatist side, and it was during this time he committed his first act of kidnapping when he and his men abducted for ransom a group of 29 Russian engineers from a power plant near the Chechen capital, Grozny.

Arbi Barayev formed the Special Purpose Islamic Regiment, where he and his associates became infamous for their alleged part in a wave of lawlessness which swept the devastated country.

Arbi Barayev, who held the post of deputy commander of the National Guards, however refused to obey the order.

When six of his men were detained in Ingushetia, Arbi Barayev attacked an Ingush police post and took hostages; one of them was killed and the rest were prisoner-swapped.

The SPIR was not disarmed, but Arbi Barayev was stripped of his rank of Brigade General and declared as the "enemy of Ichkeria and the Chechen people".

In December 1998, Arbi Barayev proclaimed the Supreme Council of Islamic Jamaats, dug trenches around Urus-Martan and threatened to attack targets across and outside of Chechnya if Maskhadov tried to fight them.

Arbi Barayev himself denied that his group kidnapped and killed the foreigners.

In March 2000, during the early phase of the war, Arbi Barayev reportedly betrayed the Chechen field commander Ruslan Gelayev to the Russian military forces, resulting in the massacre of Gelayev's forces in the Battle of Komsomolskoye.

Arbi Barayev owned a stable of expensive foreign cars, had several wives, and moved around with an escort of twenty to thirty guards.

Relatives of Arbi Barayev publicly denounced him for his crimes, saying that the family announced in the courtyard of the mosque that if anyone killed him, they would relinquish all claims.

Once arrested, Arbi Barayev was said to be instantly released by the demand of Beslan Gantamirov, then the leading figure in the pro-Moscow government.

On 22 June 2001, Arbi Barayev was reported killed during a raid by the Russian military special forces on Alkhan-Kala.

Arbi Barayev was allegedly captured alive and then tortured to death.

Arbi Barayev's body was given to his immediate family for a funeral.

Arbi Barayev was barred from being buried in his home village by the local people.

The remnants of Arbi Barayev's group were reportedly integrated into the mainstream rebel forces following the theatre seizure.