Within murder case of former Novokuli village head, arrest of two "Rosgvardiya" fighters extended

A district court of Makhachkala has extended for a month the arrest of Salman and Suleiman Kurbanov, the servicemen of the "Rosgvardiya" (Russian National Guard), accused of murdering Abakar Kaplanov, a former head of the village of Novokuli, the Dagestani Supreme Court (SC) has informed.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that Abakar Kaplanov was shot dead on February 6, 2021, in the building of the Soviet ROVD (District Interior Division) of Makhachkala. Two "Rosgvardiya" fighters – brothers Salman and Suleiman Kurbanov – are accused of committing the murder. They refuse to plead guilty, because they cannot recollect the circumstances of the incident, the defence asserts.

The Makhachkala court has extended the arrest of the Kurbanov brothers by a month, Zarema Mamaeva, the head of the press service of the Dagestan SC, reported on January 4, without specifying the date, when the session of the above district court took place.

Earlier, residents of the village of Novokuli reported that the suspects had been in conflict with Kaplanov for a long time over the land plot. Sergey Melikov, the head of Dagestan, has also pointed to the land dispute as a possible murder motive.

Let us remind you that the land conflict, which could become the reason for assassinating Kaplanov, has been lasting for many years, the Dagestani journalists earlier interviewed by the "Caucasian Knot" have stated.

This article was originally published on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’ on January 4, 2022 at 06:46 pm MSK. To access the full text of the article, click here.