Relatives of Dagestanis assassinated in Chechnya accuse court of bias

The decision of the Supreme Court (SC) of Chechnya to find the eight Dagestanis killed in Chechnya guilty of assaulting law enforcers was not a surprise for their relatives. Examinations refute law enforcers' testimonies about the circumstances of Dagestanis' death, the advocate has stated.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that residents of Dagestan, Gashim Uzdanov, Pakhrudin Makhaev, Islam Magomedov and Shamil Djamalutdinov disappeared on September 28, 2016, on their way to Makhachkala. On October 4 of that year, Gusein Guseinov, Klych Klychev, Shamil Djamalutdinov and Kamil Djamaludinov disappeared in Khasavyurt. Law enforcers assert that these people had been preparing a terror attack and were killed in a shootout. On March 10, 2020, the Chechen SC found the residents of Dagestan guilty of assaulting law enforcers.

Relatives treat the prosecutions' version as "implausible," because, according to their story, all the eight young men were kidnapped in Dagestan 5-10 days before the special operation conducted on the border with Chechnya.

The Chechen SC interrogated an eyewitness to the kidnapping, but his testimony was ignored by the court, Magomed Djamalutdinov, the representative of one of the defendants, Shamil Djamalutdinov from Khasavyurt, has stated.

From the very beginning, the trial was biased, Umraikha Gasanova, the mother of Islam Magomedov, has stated. According to her story, the court failed to answer where her son had been kept for ten days, from September 28, when he was kidnapped, to October 8, 2016, when he was found in Chechnya.