Dagestani journalists dispute about resonance of sentence to Magomed Suleimanov

The judgement on Magomed Suleimanov's case is a resonant event, since officials' acquittals are rare, Magomed Magomedov, a deputy editor-in-chief of the "Chernovik" (Draft) outlet, believes. Officials' arrests trigger some resonance, but the public doesn't care about their further fate, Gadjimurad Sagitov, the editor-in-chief of the "Novoye Delo" (New Case) outlet, is sure.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that on August 17, 2018, Magomed Suleimanov, a former Acting Mayor of Makhachkala, was detained and arrested on suspicion of creating a criminal community and frauds with payments for more than 210 million roubles. On July 4, 2022, Suleimanov, accused of abuse of power, was acquitted by the court.

Magomed Suleimanov's acquittal is a resonant event, Magomed Magomedov, a deputy editor-in-chief of the "Chernovik", told the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent.

"We remember the noise and the informational support accompanied the detention of Magomed Suleimanov; how long he was in the SIZO (pre-trial prison), and how gradually the charges against him were dropped one by one. Such a development of events raises a lot of questions," Mr Magomedov has stated, adding, however, that in the end "they came to some incomprehensible accusations", which ended in an acquittal.

He said that he could not recollect any other criminal cases involving officials that ended in acquittals.

The acquittal of Magomed Suleimanov is not a resonant event, since officials' arrests used to cause some resonance, while further events around their criminal case worry detainees' relatives, not the public, Gadjimurad Sagitov has objected.

However, he doubts that the law enforcement system will admit Suleimanov's full acquittal, since, according to Sagitov, this will be a "blow to the system" and will also cause certain financial damage.

This article was originally published on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’ on July 6, 2022 at 02:45 am MSK. To access the full text of the article, click here.