Ramazan Utarbiev: I am ready to surrender in exchange for guarantees of lawfulness

Native of Dagestan Ramazan Utarbiev who is in search as one of the participants of the mass scuffle in which Egor Sviridov, fan of the Moscow "Spartak", was killed issued a video message where he said he was ready to "surrender to the authorities" if he received guarantees of "fairness, justice and impartial investigation".

The message was received by "Caucasian Knot" from a journalist of "Chernovik" newspaper in Dagestan. According to the journalist, a young man who did not introduce himself came to the editorial board of "Chernovik" and said he had been commissioned to deliver a CD with a video message of Ramazan Utarbiev, a suspect on the case of Egor Sviridov's murder. There are no indications to the date of recording on the video.

The person on the video who introduces himself as Ramazan Utarbiev says he wishes to tell the truth in his message about the scuffle that took place at night of December, 6, 2010, and ended with a murder followed by mass disturbances with the participation of natives of the Caucasus and nationalist orientated young people in Moscow, St. Petersburg and other cities of Russia.

"On that day my friends and I met at a café, sat there and talked and were already going to leave, - Utarbiev says. - Some of us went to the taxi rank to get a taxi and Aslan Cherkesov (native of Kabardino-Balkaria suspected directly of having committed Sviridov's murder - note by "Caucasian Knot") and me went shopping. Entering the shop I saw and heard a crowd of drunk people moving towards the rank with noise and shouts. When we came out of the shop this crowd was beating my friends up". "Three persons pounced on Aslan and one on me, - the author of the video message continues. - During the scuffle someone started firing".

After the scuffle Ramazan together with its other participants was detained by militia personnel. According the him, the young men were kept in the militia department for two days. Then on hearing their evidence, everyone but Aslan Cherkesov was released on an engagement of presence at the investigation.

"While I was in the department, - Utarbiev goes on, - a crowd of enraged drunk fans burst into the office with the intention of mob law". He asked for the investigator's permission to call his mother and on getting the chance told her about the incident. According to Ramazan Utarbiev, his aunt called up the investigator in ten minutes and asked whether the investigation guaranteed Ramazan's safety.

"The investigator replied that he did not and no one was responsible for my life, - the young man stated. - If the observers of law and order could not guarantee my safety what else did I have to do except hiding myself?".

According to Utarbiev, another reason for hiding himself was a great number of threats he started receiving. "At the web-site "VKontakte" hundreds of threats were coming to his and his people's addresses, he says. - "I have been forced to hide myself, it is not that I am feeling any guilt".

"All I have told you is naked truth, - the young man assures. - And what you see on TV is shown on someone's order. I want people to know that we have not been instigators of the scuffle".

Ramazan Utarbiev says in his video message that after he was released from the militia department he "later on was going to visit the investigator himself but he was "warned" that it was an "ostentatious process" aimed at "calming down the fans".