Five residents of Chechnya convicted for killing Bashkir OMON fighters in 2012

Five participants of an illegal armed formation (IAF), who shot dead OMON (riot police) fighters from Bashkiria in 2012 in Chechnya, have been sentenced from 3 to 25 years in a high-security colony. Their defence intends to appeal against the verdict.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that, according to the Chechen MIA, on August 17, 2012, in the village of Alkhan-Kala, a car with fighters of the Bashkir OMON was shelled, resulting in death of four fighters, whose service firearms were stolen.

On November 17 of the same year, power agents detained several people suspected of committing the above crime. The detainees reported about the location of two hideouts with firearms and ammunition. In one of them law enforcers found two submachine guns that belonged to the killed Bashkir OMON fighters.

"The Supreme Court of Chechnya has sentenced the residents of the republic Isa Yanaev, Ilyas Ayubov, Anzor Arsanov, Shamil Tovsultanov and Islam Umatgiriev, who were accused of committing a series of grave crimes, including killings of law enforcers," a source from the Prosecutor's Office of Chechnya has reported.

Earlier, relatives of the convicts stated that their confessions were obtained under pressure. In this context, a relative of one of the convicts said that the defence would appeal against the verdict passed by the Supreme Court of Chechnya at the federal level.

Full text of the article is available on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’.