18:35, 14 June 2022

Court reduces prison term to resident of Dagestan who claimed torture

The building of the Fifth General Jurisdiction Court of Cassation in Pyatigorsk. Screenshot of the video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y_XHES59Rgo

A court in Pyatigorsk has almost halved the prison term of Islam Kubakhanov, a Dagestani resident, who had been sentenced to 8.5 years in prison on charges of links with militants. However, the court disregarded the Kubakhanov's statement about torture.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that in 2016-2017, in the village of Andi, Botlikh District of Dagestan, law enforcers repeatedly conducted counterterrorist operations (CTOs). In one of them, in August 2016, four alleged militants were killed.

In February 2019, the court found Islam Kubakhanov guilty of participating in an illegal armed formation (IAF). However, on April 4, 2022, the Court of Cassation in Pyatigorsk changed the sentence, appointing Kubakhanov 4.5 years in prison.

According to investigators, student Kubakhanov, together with his female classmate, wanted to join the IAF named "Andiyskaya", and were detained at the Makhachkala Airport in October 2017.

Initially, the detainee had confessed, but later announced violations during the investigation. In particular, investigators failed to prove the very fact of the existence of an IAF in the Botlikh District.

This article was originally published on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’ on June 13, 2022 at 11:05 pm MSK. To access the full text of the article, click here.

Source: Caucasian Knot