Three residents of Kabardino-Balkaria received prison terms in the case of the attack on paratroopers in Chechnya

The Southern District Military Court found Aslanbek Kazanchev and Anzor Batyrov guilty of attacking Pskov paratroopers in Chechnya and sentenced them to 17 and 14 years in prison, respectively. The third defendant, Taimuraz Nakusov, who entered into a pre-trial agreement, was sentenced to 11.5 years in prison.

As "Kavkazsky Uzel" wrote, residents of Kabardino-Balkaria Anzor Batyrov, Aslanbek Kazanchev and Taimuraz Nakusov were detained in May 2023 in Baksan, Chegem and the village of Nartan in the Chegem District. They are suspected of involvement in the militant attack on Pskov paratroopers in Chechnya in 2000, the Investigative Committee reported. In July 2024, the case was sent to court.

Residents of Kabardino-Balkaria Aslanbek Kazanchev and Anzor Batyrov were found guilty of participating in a gang (part 2 of article 209 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation), armed rebellion (article 279 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation) and attempt on the lives of military personnel (article 317 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation).

According to the investigation and the court, on February 29, 2000, Kazanchev and Batyrov, as part of the group led by Basayev and Khattab, took part in an attack on servicemen of the 6th company of the 104th regiment of the 76th Pskov division of the Airborne Forces. By the verdict of the Southern District Military Court, Kazanchev and Batyrov were sentenced to 17 and 14 years of imprisonment, respectively, to be served in a strict regime penal colony, the Investigative Committee of Russia reported today on its Telegram channel.

The verdict in the case was handed down on July 22, according to the case card on the website of the Southern District Military Court.

As follows from the list of cases on the website of the Southern District Military Court, the case of Taimuraz Nakusov was considered separately.

In the appellate ruling published on the website of the Appellate Military Court in Rostov-on-Don says that Nakusov's case was considered in a special order, since he entered into a pre-trial cooperation agreement.

Nakusov was found guilty and convicted of attempting to take the lives of military personnel, the court sentenced him to 11.5 years of imprisonment.

The defense in the appeal indicated that Nakusov fully admitted his guilt, repented of his actions, entered into a pre-trial cooperation agreement, and filed a petition for a special order. Also, according to the defense, the sentence should take into account his young age at the time of the crime, the fact that he has a wife on maternity leave and five dependent children, as well as the fact that he is the sole breadwinner in the family. The lawyer asked for a non-custodial sentence for Nakusov, but the appellate court upheld the sentence.

63-year-old Grozny resident Alavdi Batykaev was also accused of attacking Pskov paratroopers in 2000. The man denied the charges, his lawyer said there was no evidence, and the Grozny resident's relatives turned to human rights activists. The testimony of secret witnesses in Batykaev's case is contradictory and not credible, and there is no objective evidence of his guilt in the case, human rights activists said.

The testimony of the victims in the case of the death of the Pskov paratroopers are used in every criminal case on this matter and have no relation to a specific defendant, human rights activists pointed out in September 2023, commenting on the testimony read out in court in the Batykaev case.

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