On September 1, an experiment to introduce Islamic banking began in four regions of Russia. In Chechnya, Dagestan, Tatarstan and Bashkiria, financial products and services operating according to the principles of Sharia will be introduced over the course of two years. However, the words "Islam", "Sharia", "halal" are not mentioned in the law itself.
On September 1, the Zelenchuk District Court of Karachay-Cherkessia fined a resident of the republic, Ramil Dolaev, for posting on social networks the song of the Chechen bard Timur Mutsuraev "Islamic Ummah" ("As Long as the World is Ruled by Wives"), which was included in the Federal List of Extremist Materials. The fine for the administrative offense was 2 thousand rubles.
On September 1, the Southern District Military Court upheld the sentence of conscript Pavel Kamagurov, who was sentenced to seven years for unauthorized abandonment of his place of service (Article 337 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation). According to the publication "Kavkaz. Realii", this is the harshest of the known sentences under this article in the south of Russia.
On September 4, Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a decree awarding state awards to a number of Russian figures. Among them is the daughter of the head of Chechnya Ramzan Kadyrov, Minister of Culture Ayshat Kadyrova. She was awarded the medal of the Order "For Merit to the Fatherland" of the 2nd degree. The decree notes her "services in the development of national culture and art, many years of fruitful creative activity."
On September 7, the Fortanga website reported on the torture of suspects in a terrorism financing case. The father of one of the defendants, Magomed Derbichev, shared details about how the investigation is being conducted.
On September 12, after two and a half years of trial, the Southern District Military Court in Rostov-on-Don issued a decision in the case of Dagestani journalist Abdulmumin Gadzhiev, programmer Kemal Tambiev and philanthropist Abubakar Rizvanov. All three were found guilty of participating in a terrorist organization, financing terrorism and organizing the activities of an extremist organization and were sentenced to terms of 17 to 18 years in a maximum security penal colony.
On September 14, the European Court of Human Rights published a decision on the case of the Iritov family from Kabardino-Balkaria, who suffered from the arbitrariness of security forces in Nalchik. Each family member was awarded 26 thousand euros in compensation for beatings and refusal to investigate their statements.
On September 17, Kommersant reported the first sentence in Russia for a female servicewoman convicted of unauthorized absence from her unit during mobilization. Corporal Madina Kabaloeva from Kabardino-Balkaria was sentenced to 6 years in a general regime penal colony with a deferred sentence until 2032. The draft dodger was saved from a real term by the presence of a young child and pregnancy, which is why she left the unit.
On September 22, the Swedish television company SVT reported that Chechen athlete, UFC fighter Khamzat Chimaev no longer represents Sweden - he emigrated to the United Arab Emirates. This was stated by his manager Mahdi Shammas, without disclosing the reasons for this decision.
On September 22, the Southern District Military Court in Rostov-on-Don sentenced members of the so-called "prison jamaat" from Colony No. 7 in the Dagestani village of Novo-Tyube to long terms. Makhachkala resident Rasul Magomedov received 24 years in prison as the leader of a terrorist organization, while ordinary members Biybolat Kukuyev, Abdusamad Miriev and Murad Israfilov were sentenced to terms of 18 to 19 years.
On September 24, in the Ukrainian city of Tokmak, Russian military police officers beat up three servicemen of the 3rd battalion of the 71st regiment, suspecting them of sexual acts with minors.
On September 26, Reuters reported on a multi-billion dollar lawsuit filed by Russian tycoon Ziyavudin Magomedov against Rosatom and other companies. The businessman, who is serving a 19-year sentence for creating a criminal group and embezzlement, believes that he is the victim of a state-sanctioned conspiracy.
On September 26, the police investigation agency of the Troitsko-Novomoskovsky administrative district in Moscow extended the term of the pre-investigation check into the attack by two Muscovites with dogs on a Muslim woman and her children.
On October 3, the Leninsky District Court of Vladikavkaz returned the case against ten police officers of the Iristonsky District Department of Internal Affairs, accused of torture that led to the death of the detainee Vladimir Tsakaev, to the prosecutor's office for further investigation. The case was retried - the first sentence was overturned by cassation.
On October 5, the European Parliament in Strasbourg adopted a resolution strongly condemning the abduction and politically motivated sentence of Zarema Musayeva, the mother of Chechen activists the Yangulbayev brothers. MEPs called on the Chechen authorities to immediately release Musayeva, provide her with adequate medical care and put an end to all persecution of civil society and the opposition.
On October 6, Rosfinmonitoring included the public association "Congress of the Oirat-Kalmyk People" in its list of terrorists and extremists. Earlier, the Supreme Court of Kalmykia recognized the Congress as an extremist organization and banned its activities on the territory of the Russian Federation.
On October 7, the Sovietsky Court of Makhachkala remanded two more police officers suspected of abuse of power, which led to the death of the detainee Kurban Dalgatov. Thus, now seven employees of the Sovietsky District Department of Internal Affairs are involved in the torture case.
On October 10, Ossetian journalist Ruslan Totrov reported on his Telegram channel "Freedom Square" about another fine issued to him for a post about a "fascist state" on a social network. The administrative case was initiated under Article 20.3.1 of the Code of Administrative Offenses of the Russian Federation ("incitement of hatred or enmity towards a group of persons"). This is the fourth fine for Totrov, who left Russia in 2021.
On October 10, Director of the Russian FSB Alexander Bortnikov said at a meeting of the National Anti-Terrorism Committee that since 2022, two terrorist crimes have been committed and 37 have been prevented in the North Caucasus. According to the FSB, they were prepared by supporters of the international terrorist organization ISIS and "individuals recruited by Ukrainian special services and neo-Nazi organizations."
On October 13, a terrorist attack occurred in the city of Arras in northern France: 20-year-old Mukhammad Mogushkov, a native of Russia, attacked the school where he had previously studied, killed a teacher with a knife and wounded three others. Before the attack, he shouted "Allahu Akbar." The tragedy at the school will most likely lead to the expulsion from the country of Caucasian Muslims who were unable to integrate into the European environment.
On October 13, the 1st Eastern District Military Court in Khabarovsk sentenced Chechen Apti Visaev to 17 years in a special regime penal colony for preparing a terrorist attack in Norilsk. The defendant did not admit guilt and stated that the criminal case against him was fabricated by the FSB.
On October 19, Russian President Vladimir Putin signed the law "On the denunciation of the Council of Europe Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities." At the end of September, he submitted a corresponding bill to the State Duma. Thus, the Russian Federation withdrew from the Council of Europe Convention for the Protection of National Minorities.
On October 24, the head of Chechnya, Ramzan Kadyrov, announced the formation of a new Chechen battalion named after Sheikh Mansur, which will fight as part of the Russian Defense Ministry. On October 26, another new unit was announced – the Baysangur Benoevsky Rosgvardia battalion.
On October 31, the Supreme Court of Tatarstan upheld the decision of the lower court and remanded Alsu Kurmasheva, a journalist for the Tatar-Bashkir service of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, in custody until December 5. The woman has dual citizenship – Russian and American. She is charged under Article 330.1 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation (“Evasion of duties stipulated by the legislation of the Russian Federation on foreign agents”) – for failing to register as a foreign agent.
On September 19, Azerbaijan announced the start of "local anti-terrorist measures" in Nagorno-Karabakh and began a massive shelling of its territory. By the end of the month, more than 100,000 Armenians left the unrecognized republic and fled to Armenia. NKR President Samvel Shahramanyan signed a decree on the termination of the republic's existence from January 1, 2024.
On September 15, the report of the Special Rapporteur of the UN Council on Human Rights in the Russian Federation was published. This position was established a year ago. The document contains a statement, confirmed by documentary evidence, that "the peaceful exercise of human rights, especially since the start of the full-scale armed attack of the Russian Federation on Ukraine in February 2022", is suppressed by increasingly repressive methods.
On September 1, the Russian Ministry of Justice added journalists Dmitry Muratov and Mairbek Vachagaev to the list of "foreign agents." According to the authorities, they participated "in the creation and dissemination of messages and materials of foreign agents to an unlimited number of people," and these materials were aimed at "forming a negative attitude toward the foreign and domestic policies" of the country.
On September 19, the Federal Financial Monitoring Service of Russia removed former political prisoner, native of Chechnya Zara Murtazalieva, from its List of Terrorists and Extremists. In 2005, she was found guilty of preparing a terrorist attack in Moscow.
On October 31, Mansur Movlaev, who fled from Chechnya to Kyrgyzstan, said that he was being tortured in a Bishkek pretrial detention center. The statement was made in the courtroom, where his appeal against the verdict of deportation from the country was to be considered. The hearing was postponed, the message was sent to the National Center of Kyrgyzstan for the Prevention of Torture.
The new history textbook for high school students, which arrived in schools at the beginning of the school year, has caused outrage among residents of the Caucasus due to its offensive interpretation of the reasons for Stalin's deportation of 1943-1944. As a result, the authors of the textbook agreed to amend one paragraph.
At the end of October, anti-Semitic protests, provoked by events in Palestine, took place in three republics of the North Caucasus. In Dagestan, rioters, outraged by the bombing of the Gaza Strip and the mass murder of Palestinian civilians, most of whom were children, seized the airport while waiting for a flight from Israel. The Kremlin said that these events were “inspired from the territory of Ukraine.” Social networks blame Islamists. Experts believe that pogroms are a completely Russian tradition.
On September 7, about a hundred residents of the Kumtorkalinsky district of Dagestan came out to protest against the construction of a landfill near the Sarykum dune, which is part of the Dagestan Nature Reserve and has the status of a UNESCO biosphere reserve. Eight participants in the protest were detained by the police.
