Court reconsiders sentence of policeman Dolgiev in case on rally in Magas

The Pyatigorsk City Court pronounced a new punishment for Ingush policeman Magomed Dolgiev, sentencing him a shorter suspended imprisonment. At the same time, the judge added to the verdict the motive of political hostility towards the authorities of the republic, human rights defenders report today.

The “Caucasian Knot” has reported that on November 19, 2021, the Pyatigorsk City Court found Magomed Dolgiev, a 46-year-old former employee of the patrol-and-post service (known as PPS) battalion, guilty of disobeying an order during a rally in Magas and sentenced him to 1.5 years of suspended sentence. On February 24, the Stavropol Territorial Court cancelled Magomed Dolgiev’s sentence and returned the case for reconsideration granting a complaint from the public prosecutor, who considered the sentence too lenient.

Magomed Dolgiev was one of 15 employees of the Ingush PPS battalion who refused to disperse the protesters. Thirteen law enforcers were charged with disobeying the order. Magomed Dolgiev’s case was separated into an individual proceeding, and the case against other 12 policemen was sent to the Zheleznovodsk City Court. On August 30, all of them were sentenced to 1.5 years of suspended imprisonment, while the judge added to the sentence the motive of political hostility or hatred towards the republic’s authorities.

The Pyatigorsk City Court pronounced a new sentence to Magomed Dolgiev, assigning him a lesser sentence – one year of suspended imprisonment. However, this time, the verdict states that the former policeman shared the views of the protesters and had “feelings of political enmity” towards the authorities of Ingushetia, the Human Rights Protection Centre “Memorial” reports today in its Telegram channel “Polny PTs 2.0”.

The second trial began in April, and the public prosecutors insisted that Magomed Dolgiev shared the political demands and views of the participants of the rally and also had “feelings of political hostility” towards the authorities of the republic, the Human Rights Protection Centre “Memorial” emphasizes.

On October 3, the court found Magomed Dolgiev guilty of failure to comply with the order, the Human Rights Protection Centre “Memorial” reports. “At the same time, the judge agreed with the public prosecutors and added the motive of political hostility to the verdict,” the report says.

Let us remind you that when pronouncing the first verdict against Magomed Dolgiev, the judge ruled out any political motive in the actions of the policeman, deciding that he did not shared the views of the protesters and did not feel hostility towards the authorities of Ingushetia. In turn, the public prosecutors requested the court to sentence Magomed Dolgiev to 2.5 years of imprisonment.