The Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation reported on the sentences of 135 residents of Dagestan. They were found guilty of participating in mass riots, damaging property and attempting to kill law enforcement officers.

The investigation accused Abakar Abakarov, Israil Akhmednabiyev and Ilya Ponomarev of organizing the riots. Since they are wanted, their cases were tried in absentia. On October 29, 2023, Abakarov, Akhmednabiyev and Ponomarev allegedly published anti-Semitic posts on Telegram, where they called on Dagestanis to protest at the Uytash airport, where refugees from Israel were supposed to arrive.

“On the night of October 30, 2024, large-scale riots occurred at the airport. An aggressive crowd, having blocked the roads and broken into Terminal B, put up armed resistance to the police, ran onto the runway and surrounded the arriving plane. As a result of the clashes, at least 23 law enforcement officers were injured, and the material damage from the pogrom exceeded 24 million rubles,” the Investigative Committee reported.

The action was connected with anti-Israeli sentiments. Hundreds of people broke into the Makhachkala airport, trying to find passengers of a transit flight from Tel Aviv. The crowd protested against Israel’s actions in Palestine.

Earlier, human rights activists pointed out the bias of the trial: among the accused could have been those who did not participate in the storming of the airport. Relatives of many of the defendants stated that they considered the sentences too harsh and unfair. 11 prosecution witnesses were unable to identify the defendants.