Hearings continue at the Southern District Military Court in Rostov-on-Don in the case of six residents of Nalchik accused of involvement in a terrorist organisation. Among the defendants is 19-year-old Kazbek Emkuzhev, whose phone, as it has emerged, was not included in the case materials, and another defendant, Aslan Makoev, has told the court that the messages presented by the prosecution as evidence were fabricated.
According to the human rights centre Memorial, citing court observers, the most recent hearings examined the expert analysis of the defendants’ phone data. However, for unknown reasons, Emkuzhev’s phone was not among the devices submitted for analysis. His relatives claim that the case materials contain no information about his phone at all.
Emkuzhev is one of seven individuals originally charged in the ‘terrorist cell’ case, some of whom have since been killed. As reported by the independent Russian media outlet Caucasian Knot, three of the defendants — Kazbek Emkuzhev, 19-year-old Tamirlan Chepchikov, and 26-year-old Ratmir Murachaev — were abducted by unidentified individuals, beaten, and subjected to electric shock torture.
On 12 April 2024, it was announced that Chepchikov and Murachaev had been ‘liquidated’ by security forces during a counter-terrorist operation in Nalchik. According to the National Anti-Terrorism Committee, the two were members of an unnamed international terrorist organisation and had been planning sabotage and terrorist acts in Kabarda–Balkaria.
The Investigative Committee launched criminal proceedings for attempted attacks on law enforcement officers and for the illegal possession of weapons and explosives. No investigation was conducted into the circumstances of their deaths.
The trial continues in the Southern District Military Court. In addition to Emkuzhev and Makoev, the defendants include Mansur Kamolov, Ibragim Albogachiev, Mukhamed Shomakhov, and Temirkan Balkarov. According to lawyer Ramzan Uzuev, all of the defendants lived in the same district of Nalchik and had previously visited the same internet café, but otherwise had no substantial connections to each other.
According to human rights monitors, three prosecution witnesses failed to appear at the last two hearings, and the court began reviewing the documentary evidence, including the results of forensic examinations of the defendants’ digital devices. No incriminating communications or content were found on the phones, with the exception of that belonging to Makoev.
According to the case files, Makoev’s phone contained a message exchange with an unidentified woman. One message, allegedly from Makoev, said: ‘We must fight, we must not indulge the enemies of Allah’. The prosecution submitted this exchange as evidence, though the woman was not listed even as a witness. Makoev told the court that ‘half the text presented as messages is not mine’, and questioned the authenticity of the evidence.
Uzuev stated that the defence intends to file a motion to exclude some of the evidence due to procedural violations. According to Uzuev, the prosecution has not demonstrated that the seized devices actually belonged to the defendants. Furthermore, the case materials lack information on the origin, storage, and integrity verification of the digital copies.
The next hearing is scheduled for 22 July. The court is expected to hear the remaining prosecution witnesses and allow the defence to present its evidence.
So far, none of the defendants have pleaded guilty. The case is being prosecuted under the article on creating or participating in a terrorist organisation, which carries a maximum penalty of 15 years in prison.
Elizaveta Chukharova
