The prosecutor requested 10 years for Omarov for the murder of Kardashov.
During the debates in the Gudermes City Court, the prosecutor requested 10 years of imprisonment for Said-Magomed Omarov, accused of murdering the pharmacist from Dagestan, Alexey Kardashov.
As reported by "Caucasian Knot", at the court session in Chechnya on July 31, Said-Magomed Omarov, accused in the case of the murder of Alexey Kardashov, refused to testify, citing the Constitution. At subsequent sessions, Omarov also refused to provide significant information, stating that he was tired and could not remember anything. A human rights activist reported that the investigation ignores part of the evidence, and Kardashov's mother believes that Omarov is being made a "scapegoat". According to the mother, Omarov participated in the abduction of her son but not in the murder, and the real killers will escape responsibility if Said-Magomed is convicted for the crime.
Grozny resident Said-Magomed Omarov was sentenced to nine years in a penal colony in 2020 for the murder of Dagestani pharmacist Alexey Kardashov and for stealing his car, but this sentence was overturned by the Supreme Court of Chechnya. In 2023, the Nozhai-Yurt District Court found Omarov guilty of murdering Kardashov and sentenced him to eight years and two months in a strict regime colony. The Supreme Court of Chechnya refused to satisfy the appeal against the sentence in November 2024. Currently, Omarov's case is being considered by the Gudermes City Court.
The Gudermes City Court held debates today on the case of Omarov, accused under articles for murder and theft causing significant damage (part 1 of article 105 and paragraph "b" part 3 of article 158 of the Criminal Code of Russia).
"The prosecutor requested 10 years of imprisonment for Said-Magomed Omarov. Representatives of the victim's side stated during the debates that Omarov is not guilty of the murder and has falsely confessed," reported a representative of the "Team Against Torture"* to a correspondent of the "Caucasian Knot".
The next court session is scheduled for September 30. At that session, the defendant will be given the last word, after which the court will retire to the deliberation room to render a verdict.
"The prosecution accuses Omarov of murdering Kardashov and stealing Kardashov's car, which, according to the investigation, he later sold and kept the money. Omarov's defense, as well as Omarov himself, confirms a conflict with Kardashov but claims that he did not kill him, but acted in self-defense: Kardashov attacked him, and Omarov defended himself and struck him, then got scared, put the body in the car, and dumped it from a height. The lawyers requested to reclassify the charge under the article on murder in excess of necessary self-defense (article 108 of the Criminal Code of Russia). The representatives of the victims consider all these versions incorrect – they are objectively refuted by the materials of the criminal case, are not confirmed by the details of phone connections and witness testimonies," explained a representative of the CPP*.
Alexey Kardashov, who owned a pharmacy in Khasavyurt, left home on September 14, 2017, and did not return; his body has not yet been found. Investigators believe that the Rosgvardiya officers Bekhan Abdurashidov and Aslan Dukayev took Kardashov to Chechnya and left him with Said-Magomed Omarov, who killed Kardashov during a quarrel. The basis for the prosecution of Abdurashidov and Dukayev was Omarov's testimony, which he gave when the investigation was conducted in Dagestan. After the case was transferred to Chechnya, he signed a confession.
Kardashov's mother, Tsilya Yakubova, previously told a correspondent of the "Caucasian Knot" that there have been no developments in the search for her son's body. She also expressed outrage at the very accusation and the location of the trial. "As long as this is in Chechnya, it will be like this. The lawyers are working, but it's useless. And every new mention (of her son's fate) hurts me," Yakubova lamented.
On February 24, the Gudermes Court also began considering the criminal case against former drug police officers Kalogi Aziev and Alikhan Yusupov, accused of illegally transporting Kardashov from Dagestan to Chechnya, conducting a personal search, and searching Kardashov's car in the fall of 2017. Both admitted their guilt. A witness in the case of Aziev and Yusupov, Aslan Dukayev, testified to the court that he remembers nothing. At the last session, Aziev and Yusupov refused to answer questions from the representatives of the victim's side.
The case against former Rosgvardiya officers Aslan Dukayev and Bekhan Abdurashidov, whom the Gudermes City Court found guilty of the illegal detention of Alexey Kardashov in the summer of 2023, was returned to the Supreme Court of Chechnya by the Cassation Court. The representatives of the court in Chechnya ignore the arguments of the victim's side and the prosecution, as well as the instructions of the higher court, the cassation instance emphasized. Rosgvardiya officer Bekhan Abdurashidov is participating as a witness in the case against Said-Magomed Omarov.
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