Verdict to blogger Askhabali Alibekov mitigated

The court has educed the freedom deprivation term of Askhabali Alibekov, a blogger from Novorossiysk, convicted within the case of attacking a policeman, by four months.

The “Caucasian Knot” has reported that on October 9, 2024, Askhabali Alibekov, a former military serviceman, was sentenced to two years and four months of freedom deprivation. According to investigators, at detention, Askhabali, a native of Dagestan and the author of the YouTube channel "Wild Paratrooper", struck a policeman twice in the leg. The blogger said that he hit him by accident, because his arms were twisted.

The Supreme Court (SC) of Tatarstan has reduced Alibekov's sentence, the "OVD-Info"* project has reported. The court's website states that the violence against a law enforcer, of which Alibekov was found guilty, is not dangerous to the policeman’s life and health, but was classified as a grave crime, although it is a crime of medium gravity.

The "Caucasian Knot" has also reported that in March 2023, Alibekov was sentenced to one year and two months of freedom deprivation. The court then found that the video he posted in his YouTube channel discredited the Russian Army. In November of the same year, Alibekov was back at large. In 2022, when the blogger was persecuted for his pacifist position, human rights defenders recognized him as a political prisoner.

*Included by the Russian Ministry of Justice (MoJ) into the register of foreign agents.