Former Daghestani Sports Minister no longer accused of financing terrorism

• 3 min read

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The charge of financing terrorism against Magomed Magomedov, the former Minister of Sport of Daghestan and ex-mayor of Kizilyurt, was dropped at the final stage of the investigation, Russian media outlet Kommersant reported.

At the same time, Russia’s Prosecutor General’s Office approved several other indictments against Magomedov — he has been accused of organising a criminal group, double murder, and embezzlement of public funds. Magomedov has denied all charges.

Initially, Magomedov had been charged under Article 205.1 part 2 of the Russian Criminal Code — ‘facilitating terrorist activities using official position’. Investigators alleged that in 2009, he transferred $100,000 to a known crime boss, Magomedkhabib Magomedaliev, for the needs of a local group of militants known as the Gimry group. However, investigators later established that this group was only designated a terrorist organisation in 2013, making it legally impossible to classify the money transfer as terrorism-related.

The basis for the terrorism charge was the testimony of a paralysed man, Shamil-Khadzhi Shamkhalmagomedov, who is under house arrest and has entered into a pre-trial agreement, along with an anonymous Federal Security Service (FSB) officer. Following the charges in summer 2024, Magomedov reportedly attempted suicide while in pre-trial detention.

‘As of now, the only evidence against Magomedov is the testimony of a paralysed co-defendant who gave it inside the medical unit of the FSB’s regional office in Daghestan, where he ended up under mysterious circumstances, having submitted a confession’, Kommersant quoted Magomedov’s lawyer Dmitry Nikonorov as saying.

In addition, investigators claim that Magomedov created an armed group in 2005 composed of his bodyguards and law enforcement personnel. According to the prosecution, on 3 August 2006, members of this group fatally shot Mirza Sirazhudinov, deputy head of the local Treasury in Kizilyurt District, and his young son near a roadside café. Investigators believe the killing was revenge for a failed assassination attempt on Magomedov the previous year, during which his nephew was killed.

Magomedov has maintained his innocence. He argues that he had no reason to seek revenge against Sirazhudinov, who had reportedly apologised through intermediaries. He claims the murder was in fact organised by the very same Shamkhalmagomedov and his relative, police officer Abdulaziz Osmanov. Osmanov was killed in a shootout in 2010, and Shamkhalmagomedov has been paralysed since.

Magomedov is also accused of embezzling ₽460,000 ($5,600) between 2017 and 2020 — allegedly through inflated invoices for 38 sets of sports uniforms. He says the uniforms were distributed to promising young athletes in remote areas and that he did not ask them to sign for the gear. He considers this an administrative oversight rather than a crime and stresses that this is the only financial complaint against him during a career involving numerous large contracts.

Magomedov’s defence has insisted that the case is politically motivated and linked to intra-elite rivalries in the republic. According to the defendant, the regional FSB office negatively assessed his character and work when he was appointed mayor of Kizilyurt, but the republic’s leadership ignored it.

‘Back in 1996, during the First Chechen War, Magomedov exchanged himself for women and children held hostage by [famed Chechen fighter] Salman Raduev in a hospital in Kizlyar. Two years later, he convinced protesters to disperse after the Khachilaev brothers seized the State Council and Government building in Daghestan. His eldest son is a senior GRU special forces officer’, said Nikonorov.

He added that this background made the accusation of financing terrorism especially painful for his client.

The trial will most likely be transferred out of Daghestan, Kommersant reported. Alongside Magomedov in the dock are other former employees from the Sports Ministry — Olga Gorlova, Khalitbeg Makhachev, and Magomed Abdulkerimov. Several alleged members of the supposed criminal group created by Magomedov have also been charged. Shamkhalmagomedov, now the main prosecution witness, will be tried separately.

The Magomedov case will be heard by a jury.

Elizaveta Chukharova •

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Liza was born and raised in Vladikavkaz and now lives in Prague. She has previously worked for RFE/RL, ASTRA, Belsat, and others. She is currently completing her Master's degree in Russian Studies at Charles University in Prague, specialising in the study of military and inter-ethnic conflicts in the North Caucasus. In her free time, Liza shoots feature films, writes about cinema, and travels — she has visited exactly 50 countries and is not going to stop there.