The prosecution has requested a 12-year sentence for Yakub Belkhoroev in the embezzlement case.
The prosecutor requested a 12-year prison sentence for the former head of the Ingush branch of the Social Insurance Fund, Yakub Belkhoroev, on charges of embezzlement of budget funds, and for his relatives, who illegally received payments, to prison terms of 3 to 4 years.
As reported by the Caucasian Knot, on July 10, 2020, it was reported that Yakub Belkhoroev, head of the Ingush branch of the Social Insurance Fund (FSS) and one of the leaders of the Batalkhadzhin group, had been detained. At the end of May 2021, the investigation into Belkhoroev's case was completed, and he was charged with embezzling approximately 20 million rubles. In November 2022, Belkhoroev was sentenced to nine years in prison. In December 2024, an investigation was launched into an embezzlement case. According to investigators, Yakub Belkhoroev illegally issued over 13 million rubles in social benefits to his relatives.
Batal-haji Belkhoroev is an Ingush sheikh, the founder of one of the Kadirite branches (virds), a follower of Sheikh Kunta-haji, according to a report published on the "Caucasian Knot" entitled "Batal-haji and His Followers".
During court proceedings, Prosecutor Svetlana Tarasova asked the Presnensky Court of Moscow to sentence the former head of the Social Insurance Fund for the Republic of Ingushetia, Yakub Belkhoroev, who is accused of embezzling nearly 14 million rubles. budget funds, to 12 years in a general regime penal colony, TASS reported today, citing a participant in the case.
"The state prosecution is requesting that Yakub Belkhoroev, accused under Part 4 of Article 160 of the Russian Criminal Code (embezzlement on an especially large scale), be sentenced to 12 years in a general regime penal colony, a fine of 1 million rubles, and a three-year ban on holding positions in the civil service and local government," the report quotes him as saying.
He noted that the recipients of payments ranging from 2.1 to 3.3 million rubles are accused of complicity in especially large-scale embezzlement. They have fully repaid the damages caused to the state. The defendants are under a written undertaking not to leave the country and to behave properly.
The prosecutor also asks the court to sentence Musa Bagatyrev and Mustafa Bogatyrev to four years in a general regime penal colony and a fine of 500,000 rubles each, while Issa Tsetchoev and Belokhoroev's ex-wife, Tanzila Polonkoeva, are each sentenced to three years in a general regime penal colony and fines of 400,000 rubles. Another recipient of the payment, Beslan Tochiyev, died during the investigation.
As a reminder, on May 27, 2021, according to sources, security forces conducted a search of the home of Mustafa, the head of the Accounts Chamber of Ingushetia and Yakub Belkhoroev's brother. He had previously complained that he had been brutally tortured after his son's arrest in connection with the attempted assassination of the head of the regional Center for Combating Extremism, but investigators refused to open a case. His son, Amirkhan Belkharoev, stated that his father was severely beaten, but in a manner that left no traces.
On November 2, 2019, the head of the Ingush Center for Combating Extremism, Ibragim Eldzharkiev, and his brother, Akhmed Eldzharkiev, a doctor at a Moscow hospital, were shot dead in Moscow. Sources speculated at the time that the attack on Eldzharkiev may have been motivated by a blood feud amid his conflict with the Batalkhadzhins. Alikhan Belkharoev was arrested in connection with the attack on Eldzharkiev. Relatives consider Belkharoev's criminal prosecution an attack on the Batalkhadzhins.