Killed resident of Izberbash not involved in armed underground, his relatives assert

Relatives of a resident of the Dagestani town of Izberbash, killed in a shootout with law enforcers, do not believe the law enforcers' version of his involvement in the armed underground and declare his innocence.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that on December 11, in Izberbash, Mukhtar Ismiev opened fire on policemen when they tried to check his documents. He was killed by return fire. According to a source from the law enforcement bodies, Mukhtar Ismiev was suspected of recruiting militants.

"Mukhtar was killed after a Friday prayer... He was shot and killed in a sparsely populated area with no surveillance cameras, and then, a weapon was planted to him," claimed a female relative of the killed man. According to the woman, till present, the body has not been given out to the relatives for burial.

Another female relative of the killed man has reported that Mukhtar Ismiev had an earlier criminal record, "not related to illegal armed formations and things like that." "He was engaged in fishing, and he had a conflict related to his activities, which escalated into a fight with a policeman. As a result, he was sentence to conditional imprisonment," says the female relative of the deceased man.

An official from the GOVD (City Interior Division) has reported that Mukhtar Ismiev was not formally wanted. However, the police had the operative information that he could render assistance to local militants.

Full text of the article is available on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’.