The prosecution requested a suspended sentence for the Chechen security forces in the Kardashov case.

At the court session in Chechnya, the prosecutor requested to sentence former drug police officers Kalogi Aziev and Alikhan Yusupov to a suspended sentence for the illegal detention of pharmacist Alexei Kardashov from Khasavyurt. Kardashov's mother intends to appeal the verdict if the punishment is suspended.

As reported by "Caucasian Knot", on February 24, the Gudermes City Court began hearing the criminal case against former drug police officers Kalogi Aziev and Alikhan Yusupov, accused of illegally transporting Kardashov from Dagestan to Chechnya, conducting a personal search and searching Kardashov's car in the fall of 2017. Both admitted their guilt in the illegal detention of Kardashov. However, a witness in the case, Aslan Dukayev, stated in court that he remembers nothing, and Aziev and Yusupov refused to answer questions from the representatives of the victim's side during the session on July 14.

At today's session of the Gudermes City Court regarding Aziev and Yusupov, the prosecutor requested a suspended sentence for them, a correspondent of the "Caucasian Knot" reported, said a representative of the "Team Against Torture"*.

"At the session, the parties moved to debates: the lawyers and the prosecutor spoke in debates, the defendants did not exercise their right to speak. The prosecutor requested three years suspended for Aziev and Yusupov and a three-year ban on holding positions," the representative of the KPP* reported.

The next session will begin at 12:00 Moscow time on November 17, where the defendants' final words are expected.

The victim's side recently received a court ruling dated March 12, 2026 – refusing to satisfy the petition to return the case to the prosecutor. Representatives of the victim's side demanded to return the case to the prosecutor to seek an investigation into all circumstances surrounding Kardashov's disappearance within one criminal case. They also believe that the division of cases allowed the security forces to evade responsibility for more serious charges.

"The evidence that, in the opinion of the victim's defense, should have expanded the investigation, not limited to just Aziev and Yusupov – are Omarov's testimonies as a witness given in the fall of 2018, the protocol of checking his testimonies at that time, as well as the detailing of phone connections of the participants in those events," explained the representative of the KPP*.

He also noted the evidence that was examined at the court sessions. "In this case, such evidence includes only the protocol of checking Omarov's testimonies as a witness on the spot, the protocol of inspecting items (detailing phone connections), the protocol of presenting Yusupov to Omarov for identification, and a similar protocol for Aziev," added the organization employee.

Kardashov's mother Cilia Yakubova is outraged that the prosecutor requested suspended sentences for the security forces. At the same time, she called it expected.

"This is an expected suspended sentence; they could not bear anything else. They are very lenient towards all this. I already knew in advance that there would be such a fake decision. I have no words: I am already tired of all this and probably will never achieve the truth so that they are punished as required by law," Yakubova said.

She is convinced that a fair accusation cannot be limited only to Aziev and Yusupov. "There should have been other participants: seven people were involved in this, but only these two are on trial, and two others. But there were also people who withdrew money; there were many participants. No one else was interrogated. No one was even searched for," Yakubova told.

She intends to appeal the verdict if Aziev and Yusupov are given a suspended sentence.

The case against former Rosgvardiya employees Aslan Dukayev and Bekhan Abdurashidov, whom the Gudermes City Court found guilty in the illegal detention of Alexei Kardashov in the summer of 2023, was returned by the Cassation Court to the Supreme Court of Chechnya. Court representatives in Chechnya ignore the arguments of the victim's side and the prosecutor's office, as well as the instructions of the higher court, the cassation instance emphasized. Human rights defenders insist that the case of Dukayev and Abdurashidov should also be returned to the prosecutor.

Alexei Kardashov, who owned a pharmacy in Khasavyurt, left home on September 14, 2017, and has not returned; his body has not yet been found. Investigators believe that Rosgvardiya officers Bekhan Abdurashidov and Aslan Dukayev took Kardashov to Chechnya and left him with Said-Magomed Omarov, who killed Kardashov during a quarrel. The basis for the prosecution of Abdurashidov and Dukayev was Omarov's testimonies, which he gave when the investigation was conducted in Dagestan. After the case was transferred to Chechnya, he signed a confession. Bekhan Abdurashidov was a witness in the case against Omarov.

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