Former head of Daghestan’s Pension Fund sentenced to life for plotting murders of officials
The Southern District Military Court in Rostov-on-Don has sentenced the former head of the Russian Pension Fund’s branch in Daghestan, Sagid Murtazaliev, to life imprisonment. The court found him guilty of organising the murder of Shevket Kudzhaev, deputy Head of Daghestan’s Centre for Combating Extremism, organising the attempted murder of city Kizlyar Head deputy Vasily Naumochkin, and financing terrorism.
Murtazaliev has been on the international wanted list since 2015; therefore, the verdict was delivered in absentia.
Murtazaliev is one of the most prominent figures in Daghestan’s modern political history. Before entering politics, he achieved significant success in sport, becoming an Olympic freestyle wrestling champion at the 2000 Sydney Games, a world champion, and an Honoured Master of Sport of Russia. He later headed the Kizlyar District before taking charge of the regional Pension Fund branch.
According to the case materials, an armed group was established in the Kizlyar District in 2009 with the aim of separating the North Caucasus republics from Russia and creating an Islamic state. Investigators allege that Murtazaliev sought to cooperate with members of this group in order to pursue his own interests and, in September 2009, transferred ₽2.7 million ($37,000) to one of its members.
The central charge in the case, however, concerns Kudzhaev’s murder. Investigators maintain that Murtazaliev organised the crime through his associate, former Kizlyar District Head Andrei Vinogradov. During earlier trials linked to the case, witness Yusup Gasanov testified that the perpetrators were paid $100,000 for the killing.
Kudzhaev was shot dead in Makhachkala in July 2011. At the time, he was involved in investigating armed insurgency and was considered one of the most prominent officers in Daghestan’s counter-extremism unit.
A second episode concerns the attempted murder of Naumochkin. According to investigators, the attack was also organised through members of the armed group. Naumochkin sustained multiple injuries but survived.
One of the prosecution’s key witnesses was Vinogradov. In 2018, he was sentenced to 15 years in a maximum-security penal colony on several charges, including involvement in crimes against Kudzhaev and Naumochkin.
The latest verdict is not the first court ruling against Murtazaliev. In December 2025, the Leninsky District Court of Makhachkala found him guilty in absentia of fraud and abuse of office during his tenure as head of Daghestan’s Pension Fund branch. The court concluded that more than ₽400 million ($5.5 million) had been siphoned from the budget through a property rental scheme involving relatives. Murtazaliev was sentenced to nine years in prison.
At the end of 2025, property belonging to Murtazaliev and his relatives was confiscated and transferred to the state following a lawsuit brought by the Prosecutor General’s Office.
