I couldn't care less if I get a life sentence. I have died three times already

Salman Raduyev

Raduyev, 34, led a January 1996 raid on the southern Russian town of Kizlyar, when rebels took hundreds of hostages at a hospital and used some as human shields. A total of 78 people were killed in the attack.

Raduyev said he was taking orders during the raid from his father-in-law, late rebel president Dzhokhar Dudayev, whose army he commanded during the 1994 -1996 Chechen war.

Speaking before sentencing, Raduyev told the Associated Press: "I couldn't care less if I get a life sentence. I have died three times already, I can spend my life in prison, I have no regrets".

Plastic surgery

Raduyev was badly injured in the face after the hostage crisis, needing plastic surgery which left him unrecognisable.

A BBC correspondent says Raduyev is probably the most important Chechen fighter to be caught by the Russian authorities, having been for a time at the forefront of the Chechen insurgency.

But his influence had declined before he was captured, and he played no part in the second Chechen war which began in 1999.

The court also found three of Raduyev's accomplices guilty of taking part in rebel activities, sentencing them to between five and 15 years in prison.

Russia's top prosecutor Vladimir Ustinov personally directed the case, underlining the importance the government placed on getting a conviction.

"New, high-profile trials can be expected in the near future," Mr Ustinov said after the sentencing.

Defence lawyers said they would appeal.