Two suspects held in the March assassination of Chechen military commander Sulim Yamadayev denied on Monday that they provided the murder weapon and helped the killers escape after the shooting.

Makhsood Jan Asmatov of Tajikistan and Iranian Mehdi Taqi Dahuria face charges of aiding and abetting in the murder.

Four other suspects are wanted by Dubai police in the case, including Adam Delimkhanov, a close adviser to Chechnya's Kremlin-backed leader Ramzan Kadyrov.

A foe of Kadyrov, Yamadayev was shot on March 28 with a Russian-made, gold-coloured handgun in the car park of a luxury seaside apartment block in Dubai.

Delimkhanov is accused of masterminding the operation, an allegation he has denied. In April, Kadyrov rejected accusations that his adviser was behind the killing.

Dubai public prosecutors said Dahuria was also accused of possessing a weapon without a licence and giving it to Yamadayev's killer.

"(Dahuria) participated in monitoring the victim upon arrival at Dubai international airport and until reaching his house," said a court official, who read out the charges.

"Thereafter, he identified the address of the victim for the assassins and kept in his possession the gun and ammunition which he handed over to the main suspects."

Asmatov, who prosecutors say also monitored Yamadayev, is accused of "aiding and abetting in the premeditated murder of Sulim Yamadayev", he said.

Yamadayev fought against Russia in the first Chechen war of 1994-96 when Moscow suffered a humiliating defeat and had to pull out of the separatist southern province.

But like some other leading rebels, including Kadyrov, he switched to the Russian side after then-President Vladimir Putin sent troops in 1999 to retake mainly Muslim Chechnya.

Yamadayev became the commander of the Vostok battalion, a unit of battle-hardened former rebels which played a key role in subduing large-scale separatist resistance in Chechnya. In 2005 he was named a "Hero of Russia", the top national honour.

The next hearing in the case was scheduled for October 5. – Reuters