A criminal case against a native of Karachay-Cherkessia Alibek Chagilov has been transferred to the Southern District Military Court. He is accused of participating in an armed rebellion and encroaching on the lives of law enforcement officers.

According to investigators, on March 29, 2000, in a mountainous and forested area south of the village of Dzhani-Vedeno, Chagilov and another 200 rebels under the leadership of field commanders Shamil Basayev and Amir Khattab attacked a riot police detachment of the Perm police and a company of the commandant’s office of the Vedeno district of Chechnya. 43 soldiers were killed and another 102 were wounded.

According to the Russian Investigative Committee, 10 participants in the attack have already been sentenced to long prison terms, and two more are on the international wanted list.

As human rights activists from Memorial noted earlier, the same type of testimony from relatives of Russian military personnel as witnesses is presented in almost all identical criminal cases that were brought against natives of Chechnya and other republics. Witnesses copied the official version.