Resident of Ingushetia sentenced to 13 years in prison for blowing up APC with OMON fighters in Chechnya

The Supreme Court (SC) of Chechnya has sentenced Khamzat Aldiev, a resident of Ingushetia, accused of organizing a terror act against power agents and participation in an illegal armed formation (IAF), to 13 years in prison; the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent was informed about it by a source from the Prosecutor's Office of Chechnya. The sentence was handed down on November 25.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that on August 10, 2012, in the Achkhoi-Martan District, an Armoured Personnel Carrier (APC) was blown up and wounded five policemen, who had arrived from the Voronezh Region. The above Khamzat Aldiev was accused of committing the terror act.

In the opinion of the head of a local NGO, who preferred to remain anonymous, "there are many inconsistencies" in Aldiev's case.

"Once, Khamzat Aldiev was announced to be the suicide bomber, who committed a self-explosion at at the funeral of an Ingush policeman in the village of Sagopshi on August 19, 2012. Later, this information was refuted; and some time later Aldiev was persuaded to surrender. He was given the guarantees of immunity at the very high level. In the summer of 2013, Aldiev was amnestied; however, several months later he was arrested and accused of involvement in the attack on power agents in Chechnya," said the source, adding that investigators regarded that the video of the attack filmed by IAF members themselves was a proof of Khamzat Aldiev's involvement in the attack on OMON (riot police) fighters. "However, Aldiev's defence managed to insist on a special examination, which did not confirm the above conclusion. However, despite the absence of vivid evidence of his guilt, the man received 13 years in prison," he said.

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