12:41, 17 October 2025

A native of Dagestan received a lengthy prison sentence for the attack on Pskov paratroopers.

A court found Islam Batsiev, a native of Dagestan, guilty of attacking Pskov paratroopers in Chechnya and sentenced him to 21 years in a maximum security penal colony.

As "Caucasian Knot" reported, in March 2022, a court arrested Islam Batsiev, a native of Dagestan, a suspect in the case of the attack by Shamil Basayev and Khattab's militants on Pskov paratroopers in Chechnya in 2000.

On the night of March 1, 2000, soldiers of the sixth company of the 104th regiment of the 76th Guards Airborne Division engaged in battle in Chechnya with a large detachment of href="https://www.kavkaz-uzel.eu/articles/32520/">Shamil Basayev and Khattab. The company held off the onslaught of approximately 2,000 militants for about a day, attempting to break out of the encirclement. Eighty-four of the 90 servicemen were killed, and 370 militants were killed. Analysts cite corruption and incompetence among the command and officers as among the causes of the tragedy, according to the "Caucasian Knot" report "Battle for Hill 776: How the Pskov Paratroopers Died".

The Southern District Military Court found Islam Batsiev guilty of attacking the Pskov paratroopers as part of a group led by Basayev and Khattab. The case was tried under Article 317 of the Russian Criminal Code for attempted murder of a law enforcement officer. Batsiev was sentenced to 21 years in a maximum-security penal colony, the FSB Public Relations Center press service reported today.

According to the case file on the Southern District Military Court website, the case had been under consideration since May, and Islam Batsiev's sentence was handed down on October 13.

As a reminder, 63-year-old Grozny resident Alavdi Batykayev was also accused of attacking Pskov paratroopers in 2000. He denies his guilt. Batykayev's lawyer stated there was no evidence of his guilt, and his relatives appealed to human rights activists. The testimony of secret witnesses in the Batykaev case is contradictory and not credible, and there is no objective evidence of his guilt in the case, the Memorial Human Rights Center* stated.

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

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Translated automatically via Google translate from https://www.kavkaz-uzel.eu/articles/416400