A Daghestani court has recognised former MP Magomed Gadzhiev and several members of his family as an ‘extremist association’, ordering the confiscation of property the family owns with a total value of about ₽2 billion ($25 million).
The ruling was published by the unified press service of the courts of Daghestan on Friday.
A court in Makhachkala had already seized more than 140 bank accounts and 26 real estate properties belonging to Gadzhiev and his relatives in December 2024.
According to the court documents, those now considered members of the ‘extremist association’ are Gadzhiev himself, his son, his sister, and his civil partner. The main allegation is ‘material and other support’ for the Ukrainian Army, representatives of law-enforcement agencies claim. The court ordered the immediate transfer of the family’s property to the state and banned the activities of the ‘association’ linked to Gadzhiev on the territory of Russia.
The list of assets subject to confiscation includes 52 real estate properties, 18 land plots, as well as shares in companies and a substantial amount of money, including funds in bank accounts in Russia. The court also listed business structures in which members of Gadzhiev’s family were involved.
Gadzhiev served as an MP in the Daghestani Parliament from 2003 to 2021. During his time in parliament, he co-authored more than 300 laws, including amendments related to the laws on ‘foreign agents’ and the anti-terrorism law. In public statements by the authorities, it is noted that Gadzhiev provided ‘humanitarian aid’ and supplies to residents and paramilitary groups in the Russian-occupied Ukrainian Donetsk region.
According to the investigation, following the start of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, Gadzhiev left Russia.
‘For treason against the Motherland one needs an extraordinarily lowliness of soul, [the Russian writer] Chernyshevsky said. Indeed, for a foreign passport, Gadzhiev turned out to be ready to pour dirt on everything that is close and dear to us: fellow countrymen, friends, the republic, the country, even religion. You, Magomed, are not a Daghestani, you are a coward and a traitor!’, Daghestani Head Sergei Melikov wrote at the time in his Telegram channel.
Russian law-enforcement bodies claim Gadzhiev allegedly ‘expressed readiness to cooperate with Western intelligence services in exchange for being granted foreign citizenship’. Meanwhile, according to the accusation, Gadzhiev’s relatives, in whose names most of the assets are registered, continue to ‘provide financial and material support for extremist activities’.
Earlier, in 2024, Gadzhiev himself was included in the Russian Justice Ministry’s register of foreign agents. In addition, he was accused of involvement in the 2011 murder of Maksud Sadikov, rector of the Makhachkala Institute of Theology and International Relations. Russian authorities put Gadzhiev on the wanted list and had him arrested in absentia.
The recognition of Gadzhiev and his relatives as an ‘extremist association’ may be linked to longstanding political and business conflicts. According to some media outlets, Gadzhiev’s former business partner, Daghestan Senator Suleyman Kerimov, was behind the decision to add Gadzhiev to the list of extremists.
Elizaveta Chukharova
