Four more participants in the riots at Makhachkala airport sentenced

Georgievsky court of Stavropol region passed a guilty verdict on the case of riots at Makhachkala airport on four residents of Dagestan. This was reported by the regional prosecutor's office on January 10.

"On October 29, 2023, Marat Rabadanov, Rajab Rajabov, Magomed Ramazanov, Zaurbeg Khalikov at Uytash airport <...>, refusing to comply with the lawful demands of law enforcement officers, took part in mass riots accompanied by violence and destruction of property," the agency said in a statement on its website.

It is specified that the four convicts felt national and religious hatred towards citizens of Israel. The rioters caused damage to the property of the air harbor in the amount of more than 24 million rubles and violated the requirements of aviation and transport security. This led to a blockage of the airport, regular flights had to be canceled and redirected to other airfields. In addition, the attackers committed unlawful acts against representatives of the authorities and caused 23 injuries of varying severity.

The four Dagestanis were found guilty under part 2 of article 212 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation ("Participation in mass riots accompanied by violence, pogroms, destruction of property, use of objects that pose a danger to others, as well as armed resistance to a representative of the authorities"), part 3 of article 263.1 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation ("Failure to comply with the requirements for compliance with transport security at transport infrastructure facilities and vehicles, if this act resulted in negligent infliction of major damage, committed by a group of persons on a preliminary basis"), part 3 of article 263.1 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation ("Failure to comply with the requirements for compliance with transport security at transport infrastructure facilities and vehicles, if this act resulted in negligent infliction of major damage, committed by a group of persons on a preliminary basis").

All four defendants were sentenced to imprisonment in a general regime colony for 10 years.

Earlier, on December 23, 2024, eight participants of the riots at the airport in Dagestan were convicted, on December 11 - seven, and on August 23 - five. They were sentenced to imprisonment for terms ranging from seven to nine years.

During the riots at Makhachkala airport, people with anti-Israeli posters chanted slogans in support of Palestine. At one point, the crowd broke down doors and stormed into the air harbor terminal building.

Russian President Vladimir Putin held a meeting about the incident on October 30, 2023. The head of state also pointed out that behind the events was the intention to rock the country from within. In turn, the head of the republic Sergei Melikov appealed to the residents with a request not to let enemies and provocateurs manipulate themselves and sway the situation in the region.

On July 9, 2024, Dagestan Interior Minister Abdurashid Magomedov said that 140 people are in custody in the case of riots. In addition, according to him, more than 1.2 thousand participants of the incident were brought to administrative responsibility.