Russian law enforcement agencies have claimed that members of the Batalkhadzhin Sufi community were linked to the Caucasus Emirate*, a militant Islamist organisation. Human rights advocates, however, have questioned the allegations, noting that the group effectively ceased to exist more than a decade ago and that publicly available case materials contain little evidence of specific acts of support for militants.
A defendant in a case related to participation in the Russian-Chechen War received a nine-year sentence
The Southern District Military Court found Albert Elakayev, a resident of Stavropol, guilty of armed rebellion and attempted murder of military personnel for his participation in the Second Russian-Chechen War. He was sentenced to nine years in a maximum-security penal colony.
According to investigators, Elakayev joined the units of field commanders Shamil Basayev and Khattab no later than July 1999. He participated in an attack on the Botlikh District of Dagestan with them. Thirty-three Russian Defense Ministry servicemen were killed, and another 34 were wounded.
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