Chechen gunmen have long been the enforcers of Russia's criminal underworld. But is the government using Chechens to silence its opponents? Garry Kasparov, the former world chess champion who is now a leading figure in the United Civic Front opposition group, seems to think so. Today Kasparov asked Russia's Prosecutor General's Office to investigate what he called "threats from Chechen officials" after Chechen Parliamentary Speaker Dukvakha Abdurakhmanov called for Kasparov to be jailed for treason. "Garry Kasparov must be put in jail," Abdurakhmanov told journalists earlier this week after Kasparov criticized Chechen president Ramzan Kadyrov. "However, if we do not manage to achieve the desired result through federal laws, we will resort to other measures. The Caucasus allows for this, and the Caucasus has its own laws, and Kasparov will be punished for such liberties. He must be in jail, and if not, we will punish him anyway." Abdurakhmanov isn't the only Chechen who seemingly has it in for Kasparov: Chechnya's Human Rights Commissioner Nurdi Nukhazhiyev is also on record as saying that the opposition leader "should be punished using traditional measures we use in the Caucasus."

Kasparov has good cause to take threats from Chechens seriously. Last month Russian prosecutors investigating the 2006 murder of crusading journalist Anna Politkovskaya arraigned Shamil Burayev, formerly head of Achkhoy-Martan District of Chechnya, on suspicion of arranging the murder. Politkovskaya had accused Burayev's boss, Ramzan Kadyrov, of involvement in torture and kidnapping.