The defense of a Chechen native has secured a review of the Moscow conflict case.
A Moscow court has begun a retrial of a Chechen native accused of causing grievous bodily harm. The defense intends to prove that the victim used ethnic insults.
As reported by the "Caucasian Knot," in November 2025, 25-year-old Chechen native T. was sentenced in Moscow to five years in a maximum-security prison on charges of causing grievous bodily harm during a conflict. The court was biased in favor of the prosecution and ignored the defense's case, which was supported by evidence and witness testimony, his lawyer stated. Lawyers interviewed by the "Caucasian Knot" indicated that the case was incorrectly classified.
The victim, a drunk Moscow resident, provoked the conflict when the Chechen native and his girlfriend were entering the entrance of their building. The man began insulting and pushing the young men away, and also struck first. According to a witness, the victim used obscene language and insulted T. based on his ethnicity. He had previously been a football fan, expressed neo-Nazi views, and had been charged with administrative offences for displaying Nazi symbols.
In February, the Moscow City Court overturned T.'s sentence and sent the case back to Moscow's Chertanovsky Court for a new trial. The first hearing in the new trial took place on April 9, T.'s lawyer, Umalat Saygitov, told the Caucasian Knot.
According to the defense, the court merely extended the defendant's pre-trial detention at the first hearing. The trial could not begin because the Chechen native was not transported back to Moscow in time.
“The fact is that after the verdict, he was transferred to the Tula pretrial detention center. But he will appear in court in person; he will be brought to the Moscow pretrial detention center,” the lawyer said. As a result, the hearing was postponed until May 25.
The defendant has no complaints about the conditions of detention or the pressure he was under. “He feels fine, he’s cheerful—I saw him via videoconference,” Saigitov noted.
The lawyer intends to use all evidence of his client’s innocence during the new trial.
“Unfortunately, the cameras in the entranceway don’t record audio, so it won’t be possible to reconstruct the dialogue, but, in principle, regarding the ethnic insults, there will be a witness. In addition to the independent expert examination that has already taken place, the results of which will be announced, we want to bring in three more experts and thus strengthen our position,” Saigitov explained.