09:41, 11 September 2019

Jury finds suspects of assassination attempt on Imam Chumakov innocent

Khamzat Chumakov. Screenshot from Khamzat Chumakov's Youtube Channel

The jury found three figurants not guilty of attempting to assassinate Khamzat Chumakov, the Imam of the Nasyr-Kort mosque in Ingushetia, but found two of them guilty of illegal possession of firearms and ammunition.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that on October 3, 2017, a law enforcement source announced the detention of three suspects of plotting an attempt on Imam Khamzat Chumakov, namely, of Askhab Khidriev, Mukharbek Arapiev and Mukhazhir Tovmarziev, the latter was regarded by investigators to be the leader of the criminal grouping.

According to investigators, in 2017, two defendants were plotting a murder of the well-known religious leader on the grounds of religious hatred. They planned to activate a bomb near one of the mosques in Nazran. As far as the third suspect is concerned, the investigators have evidence that he participated in testing of an explosive device, but was not aware that the purpose of the crime was a murder.

The Nazran District Court in Ingushetia has sentenced the local residents accused of an attempted assassination of Imam Khamzat Chumakov, the "Interfax" wrote on September 10.

The jurymen acquitted the defendants in the part of the attempt on Chumakov, but, at the same time, found them guilty of illegal possession of firearms and ammunition. The court sentenced one of them to seven years of imprisonment, and the other one – to 4.5 years in jail. The third defendant was released in the courtroom, the "Interfax" reports citing its source in the Nazran District Court.

This article was originally published on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’ on September 11, 2019 at 00:58 am MSK. To access the full text of the article, click here.