A court in the breakaway Russian republic of Chechnya has sentenced a rebel leader, Salman Raduyev, to four years in prison for attempting to overthrow President Aslan Maskhadov.

Mr Raduyev, who has not yet been detained and was not in court, has rejected the verdict, describing it as political persecution.

He was sentenced for his role in an attempted uprising in May during which the head of Chechnya's security forces was killed.

Mr Raduyev one of the leading figures in the Chechen separatist war against Russian forcesis one of several radicals who accuse President Maskhadov of being too weak to lead the republic.