Assassination of Zelimkhan Yandarbiyev

[1] It was initially unclear who was responsible for the blast, but suspicion fell on SVR or GRU, which denied any involvement, or internal feuding among the Chechen rebel leadership.

The car bomb led to Qatar's first anti-terrorism law, declaring lethal terrorist acts punishable by death or life imprisonment.

[3] The trial proceedings were closed to the public after the defendants claimed that one of the prosecution witnesses, Qatari Colonel Dawdi, had tortured them in the first days after their arrest, when they had been held incommunicado; the two Russians alleged that they had suffered beatings, sleep deprivation and attacks by guard dogs.

Based on these allegations and the fact that the two officers were arrested within an extraterritorial compound belonging to the Russian embassy, Russia demanded the immediate release of its citizens.

They were represented by an attorney of the law firm founded by Nikolai Yegorov, a friend and fellow student of Vladimir Putin at Leningrad State University.