On March 2, in the Rostov District Military Court, chaired by Judge Rizvan Zubairov, another criminal trial began against detachment member Shamil Basayev. Roman Gakaev is accused of three serious articles of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation: armed rebellion, banditry and encroachment on the lives of military personnel.
The indictment states that in 1999 Gakaev joined one of the gangs of Basayev and Khattab, which on October 4 of the same year attacked a military unit of the Russian Ministry of Defense in the area of the village of Chervlennaya, Shelkovsky district of Chechnya. As a result, 15 servicemen were killed and 28 were injured.
There are 43 victims in the case, including relatives of the victims.
On April 6, the FSB announced the detention of another alleged militant who participated in the attack near the village of Chervlennaya. 42-year-old Abdullyalim Dzhumagishiev was detained in the Nogai region of Karachay-Cherkessia. He was charged with the same charges as Gakaev: banditry, armed rebellion and encroachment on the lives of military personnel - and a preventive measure was chosen in the form of detention. The FSB emphasized that “measures to search for participants in crimes of a terrorist nature in past years who escaped criminal responsibility continue.”
Russian courts are currently considering several cases against Basayevites who took part in hostilities in Chechnya and Dagestan. Among them is Magomed Alkhanov, who has already served 10 years of strict regime for participation in an illegal armed group, and is now accused of attacking Pskov paratroopers in the Shatoi region of Chechnya in 2000. Zagir Yakubov and Rasul Mailubaev received 14 years of strict regime: the Supreme Court of Dagestan found them guilty of attacking Russian military personnel in the Botlikh region as part of the detachments of Shamil Basayev and Khattab in August 1999.
At the end of 2022, the alleged militants Kairbek Bakiev, Ilkhan Kanmurzaev, Takhir Begeldiev, Adilkhan Elmanbetova*) were detained in Tomsk. Their trial is still ahead.
Human rights activists note that the charges are “tailored” according to one template: no objective evidence, only the testimony of previously convicted persons who act as classified witnesses. Their names are unknown, their faces are hidden even in court, so their evidence cannot be verified or refuted.