Magomed Khamkhoev's relatives treat his sentence as too harsh

The accusations against Magomed Khamkhoev, a participant in the rally in Magas, were untenable; and the court verdict that sent him to colony was unfair and harsh, his relative and advocate have stated.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that Magomed Khamkhoev has been in custody since April 5, 2019. The man became the first of the participants in the Magas rally in March 2019, who was charged not only with the attack on the law enforcers, but also with incitement to it. The Human Rights Centre (HRC) "Memorial"* recognized Magomed Khamkhoev as a political prisoner. On February 16, the court found Khamkhoev guilty of inciting an attack on law enforcers and sentenced him to 3.5 years in colony. Taking into account the term served at the SIZO (pre-trial prison), he has to spend there eight months more.

Fatima Urusova, Magomed's advocate, has treated the verdict as "extremely unfair"; and the imprisonment demanded by the prosecutor – 4 years and 10 months – as monstrous; and all that "with the absurdity of the charges."

"We'll appeal against this verdict at all Russian instances. Should we fail to find justice in Russia, we'll go to the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR)," Ms Urusova has promised.

Gilani Khamkhoev, Magomed's brother, has treated the verdict as "demonstrative." "This is an overly harsh sentence. For no reason they gave him a real term. My brother committed no crimes. They just decided to punish him demonstratively so that other (defendants in the case) would be discouraged," Gilani Khamkhoev told the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent by telephone.

This article was originally published on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’ on February 17, 2021 at 08:08 pm MSK. To access the full text of the article, click here.