§ Mr. KeetchTo ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what evidence he has received about the involvement of Osama bin Laden in the deaths of three UK citizens in Chechnya in 1998; and if he will make a statement. [16963]
§ Mr. BradshawWe first became aware of the allegation that bin Laden/the Taleban ordered the deaths of the four men last year, when it appeared in an official Russian publication called "Chechnya: The White Paper". A similar article appeared in the Russian newspaper "Gazeta" on 24 October 2001. To date, we have been unable to verify the story, although we have been in contact with the Russian authorities and the author of the "Gazeta" article.
Mr. Keetch: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will ask the Commissioner of Police of the Metropolis to reopen his inquiries concerning the deaths of three UK citizens in Chechnya in 1998; and if he will make a statement. [16964]
§ Mr. BradshawThe British police have no general remit to conduct a criminal investigation into the murder of British nationals overseas. This is a matter for the local law enforcement agencies. We will continue to press the Russian authorities for details of the progress of their investigation.
The Metropolitan Police Service did carry out certain inquiries in support of the Coroner's Inquest into the men's deaths. But their role was limited to providing enough information to the coroner so that he could reach a verdict as to the cause of death and judge whether it was lawful or otherwise.
§ Mr. KeetchTo ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what steps his Department took to ensure that Foreign and Commonwealth Office advice given to Granger Telecom and BT in 1998 on travel to Chechnya was passed onto three UK citizens in Chechnya; and if he will make a statement. [16965]
§ Mr. BradshawThe FCO cannot interfere in a company's personnel operations, but we do expect UK employers to take the FCO travel advice into account when planning to send their employees overseas. FCO travel advice was first drawn to the attention of Granger Telecom in July 1998, when we first learned of their activities in Chechnya. Our advice was clear and unambiguous
We strongly advise against travel to the Chechen Republic…because of the unstable security situation. Visitors have been kidnapped in these areas recently".We wrote to Granger Telecom in mid-August 1998 pointing out the dangers of working in Chechnya and handed over a copy of the travel advice during a meeting with them at the FCO on 21 August. We also reminded Granger of our travel advice by phone on 22 and 23 September 1998.