Contract serviceman from Chechnya acquitted of killing his colleague

A court in Novocherkassk has acquitted Zaindi Takaev, a military contractor from Chechnya, accused of murdering Magomed Shakhbanov, his colleague from Dagestan. The acquittal was based on the outcomes of two examinations, which did not confirm Takaev's guilt.

According to investigators, on June 6, 2022, in the yard of a residential building in the city of Pervomaisk, Lugansk People's Republic (LPR), militaries of the 163rd Tank Regiment held a celebration. One of them went to bed, taking a submachine gun and a pistol with him, another contractor, unarmed, went to his car. According to feast participants, only a certain Anastasia, Sofia and Magomed Shakhbanov, all the three aged twenty, stayed at the table. At that moment fire was opened on them. The girls hid under the table; and Shakhbanov was hit in the head by a bullet, and he died, the "Kommersant" has reported.

Zaindi Takaev, a 41-year-old contract soldier from Chechnya, said that he had grabbed his submachine gun and opened returned fire. He managed to repel the attack.

The girls told a different version. According to their one, one of the soldiers left his pistol with Takaev before leaving; and Shakhbanov was shot dead with it. They stated that Takaev had got up from the table, approached Shakhbanov from behind and shot him in the head.

Takaev's colleagues have rejected this version, saying that he had good relations with Shakhbanov. Takaev himself stated that he had had many chances to kill Shakhbanov during hostilities, but he had no reason to do it.

The examination was unable to identify the person who held the pistol. Another examination established that the shot at Shakhbanov was fired from "not a short distance," which contradicted the girls' version, the "News.ru" outlet has reported.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that in July 2023, a court in Novocherkassk sentenced Ruslan Vysotsky, a military serviceman, to eight years in prison, finding him guilty of killing a colleague.