Listing of terrorist entities
Prime Minister Helen Clark has designated the following individuals as terrorist entities pursuant to the provisions of
the Terrorism Suppression Act 2002:
Zelimkhan Ahmedovic YANDARBIEV
Shamil BASAYEV.
Helen Clark said that these designations follow a decision by the United Nations Security Council to list these
individuals as terrorist entities. The designations take effect immediately for a period of three years, unless
extended.
The decision to proceed with these designations was taken by the Prime Minister, in consultation with the Attorney
General, pursuant to the Terrorism Suppression Act.
Zelimkhan Ahmedovic Yandarbiev is the former Vice-President and now former President of Chechnya. He is accused of
having supported the 1999 Chechen-led incursion into Daghestan utilising illegal paramilitary formations and threatening
to take the lives of law enforcement officials.
Shamil Basayev is a former field commander under former President Yandarbiev. Basayev is the leader of the
Riyadus-Salikhin Reconnaissance and Sabotage Battalion of Chechen Martyrs – listed by the United Nations and previously
designated within New Zealand as a terrorist entity. To date Basayev and this organisation have been responsible for the
Dubrovka Theatre Seizure in October 2002; the explosion of the House of Government in Grozny December 2002; and a
suicide bomb attack on the Chechen Administration complex in downtown Grozny May 2003. Also in May this year a female
suicide bomber blew herself up among several thousand civilians attending a religious celebration near the Chechen
village of Iliskhan-Yurt. Basayev and his organisation have also claimed responsibility for that attack.
The Prime Minister indicated that none of the designated individuals is known to have any current links to New Zealand.
“Nevertheless, designating these entities as terrorists will serve to deter New Zealanders from becoming inadvertently
involved in their activities. It obliges all UN member-countries to freeze bank deposits and other assets owned by them,
and to deny them entry or transit visas. The financing of international terrorism is a matter of grave concern to the
international community as a whole and one that New Zealand recognises the need to effectively address. These
designations assist in that process,” Helen Clark said.