Sochi court upholds sentence of Karachay–Cherkessia resident in tourist murder case
The Third Court of Appeal of General Jurisdiction in Sochi has upheld the sentence handed down by the Supreme Court of Karachay–Cherkessia to local resident Abdullah Bostanov, who was sentenced to 12 years in a strict-regime penal colony in the case concerning the murder of a tourist from Moscow in February 2022.
Bostanov was found guilty of murder committed out of hooligan motives in February 2026. In addition to 12 years’ imprisonment in a strict-regime penal colony, the court imposed an additional one year of restricted freedom. Bostanov then appealed the decision. The appellate court considered the appeal on Thursday and left the ruling unchanged, finding no grounds to overturn it.
The case concerns an incident that took place on 16 February 2022 near the village of Kardonikskaya on the road to the Arkhyz resort. According to investigators, a group of tourists from Moscow stopped by the roadside, with one of the men, 35-year-old Oleg Albegov, getting out of the minibus to relieve himself. After that, a car carrying two local residents approached the tourists and a conflict broke out, escalating into a fight. During the altercation, Albegov suffered a stab wound to the abdomen and died on the way to hospital.
Albegov was survived by his wife and two underage daughters. Friends described him as a reliable person who was active in the motorcycle community, participated in volunteer programmes, and helped people injured in road accidents.
The tourists who witnessed the killing were placed under police protection throughout the remainder of their stay in the North Caucasus.
The day after the incident, the Investigative Committee placed 34-year-old Bostanov, a native of the village of Storozhevaya, on the federal wanted list. Bostanov later contacted police himself and confessed to the killing. He reportedly stated that he was prepared to accept punishment and compensate the victim’s relatives. Another unnamed participant in the conflict also voluntarily surrendered to police.
However, after contacting police, Bostanov allegedly attempted to leave Russia and enter Belarus using forged documents. He was detained in Belarus and sentenced to prison. After serving the sentence, he was extradited to Russia.
The case provoked significant public reaction in Karachay-Cherkessia and beyond. Soon after Bostanov’s detention, a petition appeared on the platform Change.org demanding that his actions be recognised as self-defence. The author of the appeal, Alina Laipanova, claimed that media outlets had distorted the circumstances of the conflict. The petition stated that the version according to which the tourist was killed for relieving himself by the roadside ‘has nothing to do with reality’. Bostanov’s supporters referred to alleged video recordings and witness testimony, and argued that the footage supposedly showed ‘around five men attacking two’. They insisted that Bostanov had been defending ‘honour, property, and life’. By May 2026, the petition had gathered more than 10,000 signatures.
During the trial, Bostanov did not admit guilt in the murder. He did not deny being present at the scene, but stated that he stabbed Albegov not out of hooligan motives, as alleged by prosecutors, but because he was ‘defending the traditions of his native land’ and stopping what he described as inappropriate behaviour by tourists.
Elizaveta Chukharova
