MMA fighter Nurmagomedov claims torture of Dagestani resident

Akim Kuliev, suspected of setting fire to the building of the district administration in Dagestan, is tortured and "cut his belly open," Khabib Nurmagomedov, a Russian mixed martial arts (MMA) fighter, has written in his Instagram.

Nurmagomedov posted a photo of a man in bloody bandages lying on a stretcher.

"The person you see in the photo is my friend Akim Kuliev, whom I know since my childhood, first of all, as a very brave man. Those who had tortured and abused him got convinced of it, I'm sure... During another act of torture, he cut his stomach open, stating that he would not sign to what he hadn't done," says the message.

The Russian State Duma has reacted to the statement of the MMA fighter.

"It follows from Khabib's message, unlawful investigation methods are applied to Kuliev," Rizvan Kurbanov, a Russian State Duma MP from Dagestan, says in his video appeal posted in his Instagram.

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