Daghestan’s deputy traffic police chief reportedly accused of causing fatal road accident

On 5 February, a fatal road accident involving a pedestrian occurred in Makhachkala. Now, the details of the accident have been reported – according to the relatives of the deceased, Magomed Temirsultanov, who had just been appointed to his new position as deputy head of the Daghestani traffic police on the day of the accident, was behind the wheel of the car.

According to the official report of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, the accident occurred just after midnight on 5 February. The ministry identified the driver only as a 34-year-old man in a BMW M5 — a luxury vehicle that costs around $125,000 when purchased new — who hit a pedestrian allegedly crossing the road in the wrong place. The pedestrian died of his injuries on the spot. The ministry did not give any other details.

Relatives of the deceased, 29-year-old Makhachkala resident Basir Yakhyaev, claim that the car was driven by police Lieutenant Colonel Temirsultanov, an officer of the operational and investigative part of the internal security of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Republic of Daghestan. According to the relatives, Temirsultanov and some of his associates were celebrating his promotion to deputy head of the republic’s traffic police on the night of the accident.

According to the family of the deceased, the driver was travelling at high speeds along Makhachkala's central artery, Gamzatov Avenue. When police officers demanded that he stop, the driver ignored their demands and continued driving, then drove into the incoming lane on Peter the Great Avenue, where he reportedly hit Yakhyaev.

Relatives of the deceased claim that after the incident, the driver made attempts to cover up the traces of the crime — he removed the licence plates from the car, smashed the speedometer, and deleted the recordings from the traffic surveillance cameras. In addition, according to them, he tried to shift the blame to his brother in order to avoid responsibility and keep his newly received position.

However, the security officers of the nearby Green Apple shopping centre kept their own copy of the surveillance footage, which Yakhyaev’s relatives say contains evidence of Temirsultanov’s guilt.

According to the preliminary data shared by local Telegram channels, Temirsultanov is currently in pre-trial detention centre-1 in Makhachkala.

There are no official comments from the law enforcement agencies on the progress of the investigation so far. The Ministry of Internal Affairs has also not published information about the initiation of criminal proceedings and possible charges that may be brought against the driver of the car.

The relatives of the victim declare their intention to seek justice and call on the authorities to take control of the case. Many local residents on social networks support them, as there are many cases of high-ranking officials and law enforcers evading responsibility for alleged crimes they have committed.

In a similar incident in Makhachkala in December 2015, a Mercedes allegedly belonging to a police officer from Chechnya ran a red traffic light and collided with a VAZ-219020 car. As a result of the accident, the driver and passenger of the VAZ died of their injuries. According to official reports, the Mercedes was driven by Imran Arsumkaev, a 25-year-old senior sergeant of the Chechen Interior Ministry's department of extra-departmental security. However, locals and eyewitnesses claimed at the time that Arsumkaev took the blame for the accident in order to protect a more senior official. Nonetheless, Arsumkaev avoided any jail time — he solely paid a fine and received probation.

In December 2018, in Chechnya, an entire family — three people — died in a traffic accident. Turpal-Ali Ibragimov, a cousin of Chechen head Ramzan Kadyrov and head of Chechnya’s Shalinsky municipal district, was reportedly involved. Although eyewitnesses corroborated that Ibragimov was behind the wheel, he was not punished.

Several other similar incidents have occurred in recent years.

In May 2022, there was a traffic accident in the Chechen town of Argun where three people were killed. The culprit of the accident was allegedly 18-year-old Yakub Chalaev, son of Zamid Chalaev, commander of the Akhmat Kadyrov special police regiment.In another traffic accident that reached to the top of Chechnya’s government, there was unconfirmed information about a fatal car crash involving Kadyrov’s son Adam, who was 14 years old at the time, in September 2022. The accident was reported by the European-based human rights organisation Wayfond, citing unnamed ‘reliable sources’. According to Wayfond, Adam Kadyrov fatally struck a pedestrian. In an attempt to cover up the incident, he was then transferred to a security guard's car, which he then used to fatally strike another pedestrian. OC Media cannot confirm the veracity of these allegations.

https://oc-media.org/pregnant-woman-dies-after-reportedly-being-hit-by-pashinyans-motorcade/