In the photo: on the left – lawyer with the Committee Against Torture Konstantin Gusev, in the center –Murtazaali Gasangusenov, the father of the killed brothers, on the right – Jambulat Gasanov, chairman of “Law and Order” NGO.
On 10 August, the Supreme Court of Dagestan issued a ruling according to which the investigative authorities will be obliged to conduct an additional check of the murder case of the Gasangusenov brothers. In 2016, during special investigative activities, they were shot when they were returning home from work. Based on the materials of this check, four dismissals of the claim to open a criminal case have been issued already.
As we have previously reported, eighteen-year old Gasangusein and seventeen-year old Nabi Gasangusenov were shot by unknown people on 23 August 2016 not far from their Goor-Khindakh settlement of the Shamilsky District of the Republic of Dagestan. The young men who worked as shepherds, were returning home for supper, but never made it. Their bodies were found in the morning of 24 August by their uncle.
The police summary report dated 23 August is one of the most important documents of the case. It is signed by former (by now) Head of the Department of the Interior for the Shamilsky District Ibragim Aliyev. This report informs on conducting special investigative activity by some SOG-5, in the course of which “unidentified persons opened fire in the direction of law-enforcement officers, using guns of unidentified mark. No casualties or injured among the law-enforcement officers. Two persons were killed with return fire, who were identified as Nabi Murtazaliyevich Gasangusenov and Gasangusein Murtazaliyevich Gasangusenov”.
Why the report dated 23 August had the names and surnames of the killed young men, taking into account that their bodies were found on 24 August? And they were not found by the police but by the uncle of the young men. According to I.G.Aliyev, he drew up this report based on information provided to him by Head of Anti-Extremist Center N.M.Isayev. Where N.M.Isayev got this from, has not yet been established. At the same time, all the bodies, listed in the report, deny their involvement in the special investigative activity, and the composition of mysterious SOG-5 has not been clarified to this day.
The report became a pretext for opening a criminal case against the already killed brothers under Article 317 “infringement on life of law-enforcement officers”. On 15 November 2017, it was dismissed due to the absence of the element of crime, and the report was called a false one. However that may be, it is either negligence or forging, that caused death of the two young men. At the moment, the lawyers with the Committee Against Torture are busy clarifying this matter. They submitted a complaint against the fourth dismissal of a claim to open a criminal case on negligence and forgery of an official with regard to former head of local police I.G.Aliyev.
On 28 June 2021, the Sovetsky District Court of Makhachkala satisfied the complaint submitted by the lawyer with the Committee Against Torture against the dismissal of a claim to open a criminal case. On 7 July, the Prosecutor’s Office of Dagestan issued an appellate petition asking to quash the ruling of the Sovetsky District Court. On 10 August, the Supreme Court of Dagestan dismissed the Prosecutor’s Office petition, and upheld the ruling of the first instance court.
“We see an open sabotage of the investigation, — lawyer with the Committee Against Torture Konstantin Gusev comments on the situation. — It is seriously discussed in court, whether a summary report and a brief may be considered official documents! The summary report itself mentions the names of the killed Gasangusenov brothers even before their bodies were found, but the person who provided the data for the report, has not yet been established. A lot of questions arise to the investigative authorities, the answers to which may be obtained only in the framework of the opened criminal case, which we intend to ensure”.