Rights defenders doubt official version of Magomed Suleimanov’s death

Magomed Suleimanov, a Salafist, whose body was found at the site of a counterterrorist operation (CTO) in Southern Dagestan, could have been killed before, the experts of the Human Rights Centre (HRC) "Memorial" have suggested. According to their story, such methods have been practiced by power structures of the region for many years.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that on June 16-17, power agents conducted CTOs near the village of Kasumkent, Suleiman-Stalsky District of Dagestan, as well as near the village of Gedjukh, Derbent District, and in a forest area of the Tabasaran District. As a result, 10 suspected militants and four power agents were killed. The death toll contains the 22-year-old Magomed Suleimanov, the "Life" reported on June 18, citing its unnamed source.

Magomed Suleimanov’s body could be planted into the CTO area, said Oleg Orlov, the head of the "Hot Spots" programme of the HRC "Memorial".

"I can’t assert that this practice was applied in this case... But my experience suggests that there are grounds to believe that the man was taken away, or kidnapped, but, in fact, killed. Recently, this trick is commonly used in Dagestan; such cases are presented in the report on counterterror of the HRC ‘Memorial’," Mr Orlov told the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent.

Svetlana Gannushkina, a member of the Board of the HRC "Memorial" and the chair of the "Civil Assistance" Committee, reminded of the story of Alikhan Markuev, who "was kidnapped by power agents in 2009 in Chechnya, subsequently killed and presented as a terrorist."

"We knew that Markuev would be killed beforehand – a prison guard told us about it. I wrote a letter to the then Russian President Dmitri Medvedev with an indication of the village, where Markuev was kept... However, responses of various agencies stated that the information was not confirmed. But we were right: Markuev was killed, and his body was planted," said Ms Gannushkina.

According to her story, this practice is used by power agents "to improve their detection rate and earn new epaulettes."

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