A court in Adygea’s capital Maykop has found former police officer Murat Adzhigiriev guilty of attacking employees of the State TV and Radio Company Adygea. He was sentenced to two years and three months in prison, and additionally ordered to pay a fine of ₽50,000 ($650) to the injured journalists.
The incident in question took place on 8 September in Adygea’s Supreme Court. According to the prosecution, Adzhigiriev, without any apparent reason, began to insult the film crew of Adygea, whose work had been authorised by the court, before striking their camera operator in the face and leaving the courthouse.
As noted in the case materials, his actions were considered to be ‘hooliganism committed with the use of violence against citizens or the threat of its use’.
His sentencing on 2 December took place against the backdrop of an already pending appeal by the Prosecutor General’s Office concerning a previous episode in March during which Adzhigiriev refused to comply with a demand by traffic police inspectors to stop, attempted to flee, and, when detained, insulted one of the police officers, threatening him. At that time, the Maykop City Court imposed a fine of ₽150,000 ($2,000) on him.
The prosecutor’s office in Adygea considered the punishment excessively lenient and appealed it. On 15 September, the Supreme Court toughened the sentence, replacing the fine with two years of compulsory labour with a 10% wage deduction and ordering that Adzhigiriev be taken into custody until he was sent to a correctional facility.
However, due to his actions against the Adygea journalists, which the court considered as violating the journalists’ right to lawfully carry out their professional duties, the court concluded imprisonment was a necessary sentence.
Adzhigiriev previously held the post of head of the control and audit unit of Adygea’s Interior Ministry, but was dismissed in 2013 for driving a car while intoxicated.
In addition, in May, Adzhigiriev was held administratively liable for hooliganism on a train. According to local media, he took someone else’s seat and, when passengers asked him to give it up, began to threaten them with a knife. An administrative report was drawn up afterwards. Later, Adzhigiriev recorded a video with an apology.
Elizaveta Chukharova
