After the president of the rebel Ichkeria, Aslan Maskhadov, was killed on March 8, 2005 in the village of Tolstoy-Yurt, many expected confusion, if not an open struggle for power, in the ranks of the separatists. But the very next evening, March 9, Maskhadov’s successor was named - Chairman of the Supreme Sharia Court Abdul-Halim Saidulaev.