Akhmed Shevkhuzhev's relative convicted under "aiding and abetting" article

The Baksan District Court has sentenced Bella Nakhusheva, a resident of the village of Islamey, to 4.5 years in jail for aiding and abetting a militant.

However, her advocate has stated that investigators had incorrectly qualified Nakhusheva’s actions; she could be accused of harbouring, not of aiding and abetting: while her nephew was hiding from law enforcers, she was looking for a lawyer to urge him to surrender.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that on October 9, 2016, in the town of Prokhladnoe, two DPS (road-and-post service) officers – Albert Kerimov and Vladimir Mishkov – were shot dead. Akhmed Shevkhuzhev, an alleged attacker, managed to escape. On November 10, 2016, he was killed in a special operation in Baksan.

According to the prosecution, Bella Nakhusheva helped her nephew Akhmed Shevkhuzhev (Akhmed is the youngest son of Bella’s brother, Sultan Shevkhuzhev, who was killed in June 2009 in a special operation in Nalchik): she was hiding Akhmed in the house of her relative Yulia Murzakanova, where he was found and shot dead by power agents.

Nakhusheva has applied to the Adaptation Commission asking to appoint a punishment to her, not related to deprivation of liberty, but was rejected.

Alina Kushkhova, Bella’s advocate, has noted that Nakhusheva is a servicewoman with the rank of "medical service sergeant"; she took part in the Chechen Wars and has military awards. Now, she is kept at Nalchik SIZO (pre-trial prison).

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