On January 17, the Southern District Military Court in Rostov-on-Don sentenced four residents of Ingushetia who were found guilty of participating in the international terrorist organization “Islamic State” and of planning to blow up the buildings of police units in the city of Sunzha. Three of the convicts were minors at the time of the crime.

On January 16, the Southern District Military Court in Rostov-on-Don handed down another sentence to a native of Ingushetia, Ali Taziev, a militant commander known as “Amir Magas.” He was sentenced to life imprisonment in a special regime colony for several serious crimes committed in 2009-2010.

On January 13, the Makhachkala Garrison Court released information about the completion of the trial in the case of contract soldier from Dagestan Pirbudag Alikhanov. A serviceman from a military unit stationed in Buinaksk received a concussion and frostbite on his legs during a military operation in Ukraine, but was unable to receive payments because his commander did not fill out the documents properly. He filed an administrative claim against the commander, after which the command conducted an investigation, recognized Alikhanov as a combat veteran and sent documents to the leadership of the Southern Military District to formalize this status.

On January 12, the leadership of the Novocherkassk Medical College in the Rostov region expelled five Muslim students for “violating internal regulations.” Wearing a hijab was considered a violation.

All these cases are united not only by some delay in retribution. Lawyers note that the charges are “tailored” according to one template: no objective evidence, only the testimony of previously convicted persons, which are also classified. Their names are unknown, their faces are hidden even in court, so their evidence cannot be verified or refuted.
As Memorial found out, cases of attacks on Pskov paratroopers are being investigated by one group of investigators from the Main Investigations Directorate of the Investigative Committee of Russia for the North Caucasus Federal District, and its core composition does not actually change.
Over the years, the number of these criminal cases is only growing. The wording in the documents is copied and migrated from one criminal case to another, only the names change.
The aforementioned list of 69 captured militants, allegedly compiled back in 2000, but first surfaced only 20 years later in the case of M. Bashaev, convicted by the Shatoisky District Court in November 2021, also raises doubts. Despite the defense's requests, the list remains classified. Only fragments from it appear in the cases, so law enforcement officers still have sufficient groundwork for future charges.

A native of Dagestan, Renat Shambilov, received a much more lenient punishment under the same article. The Khasavyurt District Court sentenced him to four years and seven months in prison on charges of attacking Russian military personnel in 1999.

The trial of Zagir Yakubov and Rasul Mailubaev from the Stavropol Territory has already been completed. The Supreme Court of Dagestan sentenced both to 14 years of maximum security for participation in an attack on Russian military personnel in the Botlikhsky district of Dagestan.

On January 10, the Southern District Military Court began the trial of Chechen Magomed Alkhanov, who is accused of participating in an attack on Pskov paratroopers in the Shatoi region of Chechnya in 2000.

On January 8, the Chechen opposition telegram channels 1ADAT and NIYSO reported mass kidnappings by security forces in the village of Alkhan-Kala, located 15 kilometers from Grozny. According to the chairman of the United Force movement, Dzhambulat Suleymanov, Kadyrov’s supporters could consider the villagers an “anti-government cell” because of their interest in an “unreliable” Internet resource.

On January 4, the publication Kavkaz.Realii reported on another criminal case filed against a woman who returned from Syria, where she followed her husband. A resident of Dagestan with many children is accused of terrorism - involvement in the Islamic State banned in Russia. The woman is under arrest and faces up to 20 years in prison.