A court in the Krasnodar region has reduced the sentences of three Daghestanis convicted over the antisemitic riots at Makhachkala’s Uytash Airport in 2023.
The head of Daghestan’s Public Monitoring Commission, Shamil Khadulaev, reported that the Krasnodar’s Fourth Court of Cassation of General Jurisdiction came to the decision on Thursday.
According to him, the court reduced the prison terms of Salikh Ramazanov and Mukhammad Omaraskhabov, who had earlier been sentenced to six years and four months and six years and six months respectively. Both will now serve five years and ten months in a penal colony.
The court of cassation also removed the aggravating circumstance of ‘conspiracy with the organisers of the riots’ for Rabadan Radzhabov, who had previously been sentenced to nine years in prison. His term was reduced by four months.
‘Unexpectedly for the parents, who no longer hoped for anything positive, the court reduced the sentence and removed the aggravating circumstances — conspiracy with persons recognised in Russia as foreign agents Abakarov, Akhmednabiev, and Ponomaryov’, Khadulaev wrote.
The sentences for Ramazanov, Omaraskhabov, and Radzhabov had earlier been handed down by the Armavir City Court in Krasnodar Krai. The Court of Appeal left those rulings unchanged.
In July 2025 it became known that courts in Daghestan and Krasnodar had passed sentences on 135 defendants in the case of the Makhachkala airport riots. They were given prison terms ranging from six to fifteen years.
The unrest at Makhachkala airport began on 29 October 2023, when a flight from Israel landed at Uytash Airport in Makhachkala. A crowd carrying anti-Israeli signs and chanting slogans broke through security and rioted, resulting in more than 20 people injured. Property damage was estimated at over ₽24 million ($307 million).
According to the official version, the accused took part in the mass riots motivated by hatred towards Israeli citizens, refused to comply with police orders, caused property damage, and attempted to kill law enforcement officers. However, the court did not specify which actions were attributed to each of the defendants.
Several defendants said they were present at the airport out of curiosity and did not take part in any violence. In January, police failed to identify two alleged participants — Magomedgadzhi Chirgilaev and Yasin Gadzhiev — who claimed they had been beaten to extract confessions. Nonetheless, in February, both men were sentenced to lengthy prison terms.
The trials in the airport case have been held in courts in the Stavropol and Krasnodar regions, rather than in Daghestan, reportedly in an effort to ensure judicial impartiality.
The General Prosecutor’s Office has stated that the investigation involves 142 people, of whom 135 have been arrested and seven are wanted. Among those wanted are three alleged organisers — Ilya Ponomaryov, Abakarov, and Israil Sasitlinsky. The case against them has been submitted to the Supreme Court of Daghestan.
Elizaveta Chukharova
