Djumaev’s defence files an appeal amid softer sentences in “January case”

Today, the defence has challenged the verdict to Said-Mukhammad Djumaev, who was sentenced to five years of imprisonment for a fight with law enforcers. The verdict became the toughest since the January protests in support of oppositionist Alexei Navalny in Moscow.

The “Caucasian Knot” has reported that on August 19, the Tverskoi District Court in Moscow sentenced Mikail Markhiev, better known by his past name, Said-Mukhammad Djumaev, to five years of imprisonment. The young man was found guilty of entering on January 23 into a confrontation with law enforcers at a rally in support of oppositionist Alexei Navalny.

Today, Murad Musaev, an advocate of Said-Mukhammad Djumaev, has filed a short complaint against the verdict to his client. The advocate told the “Caucasian Knot” correspondent that the law enforcers, who were involved in the case as victims, rejected in court any claims, both moral and material.

“We emphasize two reasons in our appeal. The first is that there were no two episodes [of the crime], but there was a single action. And the second reason is that this is a monstrous inhuman punishment, five years of imprisonment in a common-security penal colony. Under the mitigating circumstances like those mentioned in the case materials, this is an unprecedentedly harsh punishment, in our opinion, not motivated from the point of view of the law,” Murad Musaev explained.

The law enforcers, who were recognized as victims in the case, did not ask for compensation, but the Markhiev family still transferred the money to them. “We transferred material compensation for possible moral harm to the three victims, although no physical harm was inflicted on them,” said Liza Markhieva, a mother of the sentenced young man.

This article was originally published on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’ on August 30, 2021 at 03:15 pm MSK. To access the full text of the article, click here.