Rufat Ismailov received 15 years in a penal colony for bribery.
The court in Moscow sentenced former Deputy Head of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Dagestan Rufat Ismailov to 15 years in prison, and his deputy Dalgat Abdulgapurov to 12 years.
As reported by "Caucasian Knot", in November 2023, the Deputy Minister of Internal Affairs for Dagestan Rufat Ismailov and the Deputy Head of the Investigative Department of this Ministry Dalgat Abdulgapurov were arrested in Moscow on charges of receiving a large bribe and exceeding their authority. In December 2023, an investigator from the Control and Methodological Department of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, Abdul Abakarov, was arrested in connection with this case, accused of receiving a bribe. The investigation was completed in the summer of 2025, and in October it was submitted to the court. Ismailov categorically denied his guilt, while other defendants admitted it fully or partially.
According to the investigation, Ismailov and Abdulgapurov received 300,000 rubles for refusing to initiate a criminal case regarding the illegal construction of a house and one million rubles for a decision on the allocation of budget funds for maternity capital. The episode involving the abuse of power is related to businessman Frolov, to whom, according to the investigation, the accused issued 100 million rubles for the purchase of equipment for cryptocurrency mining. After the businessman "began to evade his obligations", Ismailov and Abdulgapurov initiated his criminal prosecution "based on statements from fictitious victims" to force Frolov to return the money.
The Perovsky District Court of Moscow today announced the verdict in the case of former Deputy Minister of Internal Affairs of Dagestan and Head of the Investigative Department Rufat Ismailov and his colleagues. Ismailov was sentenced to 15 years of imprisonment with a fine of 51 million rubles.
Ismailov's deputy Dalgat Abdulgapurov was sentenced to 12 years in prison with a fine of 50.5 million rubles. The other five defendants, including former investigators of the Investigative Department of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Dagestan, received sentences ranging from seven to nine years in a penal colony, reports “Kommersant”.
The court found all three key episodes of the charges proven: regarding bribes for refusing to initiate a case about illegal construction in Makhachkala and for the "necessary" decision in the case of embezzlement of 30 million rubles of budget funds, as well as for exceeding authority in relation to Frolov. In total, the case materials comprised 214 volumes.
According to the verdict, Ismailov and Abdulgapurov must serve their sentences in a strict regime colony. In addition, they are prohibited from working in public service for ten and nine years, respectively. Both have been stripped of their titles of justice colonel.
"Caucasian Knot" also reported that at the end of February, the Prosecutor General's Office of Russia filed a lawsuit against Rufat Ismailov for the seizure of property worth 533 million rubles. In April, the court granted the agency's demands, confiscating the property of the former deputy minister. Among the assets seized from Ismailov and his relatives were land plots and real estate in Dagestan and Moscow, jewelry, watches, premium-class cars, and cash in bank accounts. Rufat Ismailov filed an appeal against this decision, RAPS reported.
Ismailov took the position of Deputy Head of the Investigative Department of the Ministry of Internal Affairs for Dagestan in 2016, and in 2018 he became the acting head of the department. In December 2019, he was appointed Deputy Minister of Internal Affairs of the republic. The value of the property seized by the prosecutor's office far exceeds the amount of Ismailov's income for the years 2010-2022, the agency noted.