Direct Translation via Google Translate. Edited.
[KavkazUzel] A court in Novocherkassk acquitted a contract soldier from Chechnya, Zaindi Takaev, who was accused by investigators of murdering a colleague from Dagestan, Magomed Shakhbanov. The basis for acquittal was the results of two examinations, which did not confirm Takaev’s guilt.
According to investigators, on June 6, 2022, in the courtyard of a multi-story residential building in the city of Pervomaisk, Lugansk People's Republic (LPR), there was a feast in which contract soldiers of the 163rd Tank Regiment took part. When the food and drinks ran out, they began to disperse.
One of the military men, according to investigators, went to bed, taking a machine gun and a pistol with him, the second contract soldier, unarmed, went to his car. According to the participants of the feast, only 20-year-old Anastasia, Sofia and their peer, a native of Dagestan, Magomed Shakhbanov, remained at the table. At that moment fire was opened on them. The girls hid under the table, and Shakhbanov was hit in the head by a bullet, he died, Kommersant reported today.
Zaindi Takaev, a 41-year-old contract soldier from Chechnya, said that he immediately realized that they were shooting at the gazebo from nearby bushes. He jumped into the gazebo, grabbed his machine gun standing by the bench and opened fire back towards the bushes. He managed to repel the attack, after which Takaev called doctors and military police.
The girls told investigators a different version. According to them, one of the servicemen left his pistol with Takaev before leaving, and it was from this that Shakhbanov was shot. They stated that Takaev got up from the table, approached Shakhbanov from behind and shot him in the head.
Takaev's colleagues rejected this version, saying that he had good relations with Shakhbanov. Takaev himself told the investigation that he had the opportunity to shoot Shakhbanov many times during the battle, but he had no reason to do so.
Investigators opened a criminal case of murder, Takaev was arrested. The examination was unable to establish the genetic profile of the person holding the gun. Another examination established that Shakhbanov was shot from “a short distance” and that he was hit by a shell with a diameter of 8 millimeters, which did not correspond to the version stated by the girls that Shakhbanov was killed with a nine-millimeter caliber weapon, News.ru reported today.
As a result, the Novocherkassk Garrison Military Court acquitted Zaindi Takaev. The court's decision was appealed by the prosecutor's office in the Southern District Military Court. The prosecutor's office believes that the jury unanimously decided to acquit Takaev, since pressure could have been put on them, RIAMO noted today.
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