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Gunman gets 24 years in prison for killing National Guard officer in Russia’s Dagestan

Artur Bekbolatov, a member of an illegal armed group, had been trained to carry out a terrorist act, the court said

Artur Bekbolatov Valeriy Matytsin/TASS

Artur Bekbolatov

© Valeriy Matytsin/TASS

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Putin posthumously awards Dagestan police officer Hero of Russia title

MOSCOW, October 3. /TASS/. A court in Dagestan, in Russia’s North Caucasus, has sentenced a gunman, who killed a National Guard officer last summer, to 24 years behind bars, Investigative Committee Spokeswoman Svetlana Petrenko said on Tuesday.

Artur Bekbolatov, a member of an illegal armed militant gang, had been trained to carry out a terrorist act, the court said. On July 10, 2016 Bekbolatov and other gang members attacked National Guardsman Magomed Nurbagandov in a forest near Sergokal, in southern Dagestan.

Nurbagandov was held at gunpoint by the armed attackers and was filmed by them before they murdered him. In his final message, staring straight into the camera, he told his colleagues to "keep on carrying out your duty, brothers," immediately after that he was shot dead. He was posthumously awarded the title Hero of Russia.

Investigators also found that in August 2016, Bekbolatov and other gang members attacked two traffic police officers on the Kavkaz federal highway near the city of Izberbash.

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