The defense declined to appeal Belkhoroev's sentence.
The defense does not intend to appeal the court's decision to sentence the former head of the Ingush branch of the Social Insurance Fund and one of the Batalkhadzhin leaders, Yakub Belkhoroev, to 10 years in prison. Four other defendants in the embezzlement case were given suspended sentences.
As "Caucasian Knot" reported, the state prosecution requested that the former head of the Ingush branch of the Social Insurance Fund, one of the leaders of the Batalkhadzhinites, 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 and a fine of one million rubles, as well as a three-year ban on holding positions in the civil service and local government.
The prosecutor requested a sentence of four years in a general regime penal colony and a fine of 500,000 rubles each for the defendants Musa Bogatyrev and Mustafa Bogatyrev, and a fine of 500,000 rubles for Issa Tsetchoev and Belokhoroev's ex-wife, Tanzila Polonkoeva, was sentenced to three years in a general regime penal colony and fines of 400,000 rubles.
Belkhoroev admitted responsibility for embezzlement
The defense does not intend to appeal Yakub Belkhoroev's sentence, Samrat Gasanov, the convicted man's lawyer, told Kommersant.
He noted that Yakub Belkhoroev signed payment documents "unintentionally," but does not deny responsibility for what happened.
The accused admitted guilt in court, and the material damages in the case were fully compensated, the publication notes.
Yakub Belkhoroev was detained back in July 2020 and charged with embezzlement. About 20 million rubles. In November 2022, Belkhoroev was sentenced to nine years in prison. In December 2024, a new investigation was opened for embezzlement. According to investigators, Yakub Belkhoroev illegally transferred almost 14 million rubles in social benefits to his relatives.
The remaining defendants received suspended sentences
On April 24, the Presnensky Court of Moscow sentenced Yakub Belkhoroev to 10 years in a general regime penal colony. "Find Yakub Belkhoroev guilty and sentence him to 10 years' imprisonment in a general regime penal colony, and ban him from holding public office or local government positions for three years," TASS quoted the judge's ruling. Belkhoroev's travel ban was lifted and he was remanded in custody in the courtroom. The remaining defendants were given suspended sentences of three years each. They will be under travel bans and proper conduct, the agency reported. As a reminder, according to the indictment, the recipients of payments ranging from 2.1 million to 3.3 million rubles were charged with complicity in large-scale embezzlement. They fully repaid the damages caused to the state. The defendants were under travel bans and proper conduct. One of the accused, Beslan Tochiyev, died during the investigation.
In May 2021, security forces also searched the home of Mustafa Belkhoroyev, the head of the Ingushetia Accounts Chamber and Yakub Belkhoroyev's brother. He had previously complained that he had been brutally tortured after the arrest of his son, Amirkhan, 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 brutally 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. The attack on Eldzharkiev may have been motivated by a blood feud, stemming from his conflict with the Batalkhadzhins, sources suggested at the time. Alikhan Belkharoev was arrested in connection with the attack on Eldzharkiev. Relatives considered Belkharoev's criminal prosecution an attack on the Batalkhadzhins.
Batal-haji Belkhoroev is an Ingush sheikh, the founder of one of the Kadirite branches (virds), and a follower of Sheikh Kunta-haji, according to a report published on the "Caucasian Knot" titled "Batal-haji and His Followers." In February 2023, the FSB added the militant wing of the Batalkhadzhin vird to its list of terrorist organizations.