All news

Supreme court to review appeal against verdict in Sagra riots case

According to the investigators, Ivan Lebedev and Kakhaber Chichua set up a gang comprising eight members in early 2011

YEKATERINBURG, October 9 (Itar-Tass) - The Russian Supreme Court on Wednesday will review an appeal against the verdict on Magomed Bekov, an active participant in mass riots in the village of Sagra, Sverdlovsk region, in the summer of 2011, a court official told Itar-Tass.

"All the injured parties appealed against the verdict on Bekov. We regard it as too soft; we demand proper punishment for him," the injured parties' lawyer Larisa Batakova earlier told Tass.

On July 18, the Sverdlovsk region court sentenced Magomed Bekov to one year and three months in a general regime penitentiary for involvement in the Sagra riot. Bekov had been wanted by police for a long time. In July 2012, he was detained in Ingushetia and convoyed to Yekaterinburg.

The verdict for other participants in the Sagra conflict was announced on March 19. Theere were 24 defendants. Ivan Lebedev, Kakhaber Chichua, Shota Katamadze, Artyom Rabadanov, Vyacheslav Lebedev and Magomed Bekov were given prison terms, while others got suspended sentences.

On August 2, the Supreme Court replaced the prison terms for Artyom Rabadanov and Shota Katamadze with suspended sentences.

None of the defendants had pleaded guilty. Some claimed they had had no intention to get involved in mass disturbances while other said they had heard shooting before they arrived to the point of destination and decided to return.

According to the investigators, Ivan Lebedev and Kakhaber Chichua set up a gang comprising eight members in early 2011. It included Shota Katamadze, Artyom Rabadanov, Magomed Bekov, Vitaly Slatimov, Kardash Fatakhov and Faig Musaiyev.

"In the summer, two residents of the Sagra settlement - Valentina and Vyacheslav Lebedev, after quarrelling with local residents who had accused them of theft, phoned their relative Ivan Lebedev, who was in prison and asked him to stage mass disturbances in the village for 30,000 roubles, an official at the regional department of the Prosecutor General's Office said.

"Lebedev instructed Shota Katamadze, together with other gang members, to work out a plan of attack. The gang then phoned their acquaintances and gathered at least 30 people.

"Having armed themselves with a sawn-off shotgun, non-lethal pistols, baseball bats, wooden sticks, metal rods and other hard objects, they came in 13 cars to Sagra and staged mass disturbances at the entrance to Sagra overnight to July 1, 2011. A 28-year-old resident of Yekaterinburg was killed in the shooting. The attackers threatened physical violence on injured parties, and fired several shots. They withdrew as they heard a police detail was on their way to the village," the prosecutor said.

Searches at defendants' apartments found air pistols, nunchucks, baseball bats, batons, brass knuckles, an axe, and assault rifle and machine gun ammunition.