A 28-year-old resident of Daghestan, Razhidin Yaraliev, has confessed to the brutal murder of his wife, 36-year-old Malvina Magomedova. During questioning, he stated that the motive for the crime was money.
On 23 January, Magomedova left her home in the village of Dzhalgan in the Derbent district and did not return. Six days later, in the village of Chukhverkent in the Suleiman-Stalsky district, located a few kilometres from Derbent, dismembered and burned remains of a woman were discovered, which were later identified as belonging to Magomedova. Yaraliev was detained that same day.
Yaraliev was in a religious marriage with Magomedova, concluded under the Islamic nikah rite. Shortly before the murder, Yaraliev sold Magomedova’s car, which had been part of her dowry, without her consent. After the car went missing, Magomedova filed a police report reporting it stolen. Yaraliev then ‘came to see her “to talk about the report” ’, Telegram channels reported.
During questioning, Yaraliev said that it was precisely because of the financial conflict that he decided to commit the murder.
‘I brought her to my flat and decided to strangle her. I strangled her, killed her, wrapped her in a blanket, took her outside, and put her in the boot. I took a knife with me. On the way, when I was driving towards the river, I stopped at a petrol station and bought five litres of petrol. I went to the river, dismembered her and burned her’, Yaraliev said after his detention.
Magomedova is survived by three children, aged 12, 14, and 17, from her first marriage.
Since 2019, Yaraliev has been held criminally liable six times, including in convictions related to theft, embezzlement, and fraud, including offences involving abuse of official position, though no reports listed what position he held.
The most recent sentence against Yaraliev was handed down on 8 February 2024. According to court materials, he was found guilty of theft committed in November 2022. At that time, Yaraliev, who was working as a taxi driver, stole ₽430,000 ($5,700) from a passenger’s jacket while the passenger got out of the car. He later returned the jacket to its owner but did not return the money, saying he would do so later. The court sentenced him to two years and three months in a strict-regime penal colony, taking into account previously imposed sentences.
Earlier, in July 2019, Yaraliev was sentenced to one year suspended for theft causing significant damage. In November 2020, he was twice convicted of fraud involving abuse of official position and of unlawful actions with documents. In February 2023, he was convicted of embezzlement, and in December of the same year, of fraud committed by a group of persons acting in prior conspiracy.
According to Daghestani Telegram channels, Yaraliev’s father had also been convicted of murdering his wife.
Nate Ostiller
