Alu Dadashevich Alkhanov (; born 20 January 1957) is a Russian politician and the former president of Russia's Chechen Republic. He is a career police officer who fought within the ranks of the Russian Armed Forces during the First Chechen War. He was elected as president on 30 August 2004. On 15 February 2007, Russian President Vladimir Putin dismissed Alkhanov as the Chechen President and appointed him a Deputy Justice Minister of Russia. Biography Born in Taldykorgan Province, Kazakhstan, Alkhanov joined the Soviet Armed Forces on leaving school. He joined the Soviet Militsiya service in 1983, graduating from the transport police school in Mogilev (now in Belarus). He went on to the High Police School in Rostov-on-Don before becoming Deputy Head of the North Caucasus Transport Department of the former Chechen-Ingushetia government in Grozny in 1992. He was later promoted to head the department, a post which he held until 1997. When the First Chechen War broke out in 1994, Alkhanov supported the Russian side against the separatists. He was decorated with the Order of Courage for his actions during the separatists' assault on Grozny in 1996. In April 2003, he was appointed Interior Minister of Chechnya in the government of Akhmad Kadyrov and was made a Major General of the Chechen police. When Kadyrov was assassinated on 9 May 2004, Akhnanov became the favoured candidate of the Russian government. On 1 June 2006, Alkhanov said he would prefer his republic be governed by Sharia law and suggested adapting the Islamic code. He is widely seen to be in conflict with Ramzan Kadyrov, a former rebel fighter and Chechen Republic's Prime Minister with presidential ambitions. Kadyrov eventually replaced Alkhanov as President in February 2007, following by placing his own people in all the leading positions. Alu Alkhanov is married, with three children. Election controversy Alu Alkhanov's election in August 2004 was controversial from the outset. The election of his predecessor had been marred by allegations of ballot stuffing, voter intimidation by Russian soldiers and the exclusion of possible separatist candidates. As a career bureaucrat, Alkhanov had no obvious popular base and was seen by many observers as the placeman of the government of Russian President Vladimir Putin. Critics of Russian policy in Chechnya claimed that the government would not permit Alkhanov to be defeated, and that the outcome of the vote had been predetermined well in advance. Alkhanov faced seven