A Stavropol resident received a prison sentence in connection with Basayev's raid on Dagestan.

A court sentenced Stavropol resident Albert Elakayev to nine years in prison, finding him a participant in the 1999 attack by Shamil Basayev's group on Dagestan.

As reported by the "Caucasian Knot," in September 2021, investigators reported the arrest of Albert Elakayev, a native of Stavropol Krai, in connection with the attack by Basayev and Khattab's group on Dagestan. In June 2023, the case was transferred to court.

The court found Albert Elakayev, a resident of Stavropol Krai, a member of a gang and an armed mutiny, and also guilty of attempting to kill military personnel, the Investigative Committee reported today on its website.

"The court established that no later than July 1999, Elakayev voluntarily joined a gang under the general leadership of Shamil Basayev and Emir Khattab and took an active part in committing particularly serious crimes. Thus, in August 1999, Elakayev, as part of a stable criminal group of Basayev and Khattab numbering at least "1,000 people with automatic weapons, grenades, and explosive devices took an active part in the armed rebellion," the publication says.

Elakayev was sentenced to nine years in a maximum security penal colony, the department reported.

A Sochi resident who reported torture was convicted in the case of a militant raid in Dagestan

As a reminder, security forces and later For decades, authorities have been reporting the arrest of alleged members of Basayev's gang. For example, on November 2, 2022, Eduard Taushev and Temirali Zarakayev, residents of Stavropol Krai, were arrested. In May 2025, a court found them guilty of participating in a militant raid in Dagestan.

The same witnesses are everywhere. Five witnesses are usually called.

Criminal cases of participation in Basayev and Khattab's gangs are uniform and often falsified, lawyer Narine Ayrapetyan told the "Caucasian Knot." "The witnesses are the same everywhere. Five witnesses are usually called – three secret witnesses and two public ones," she said.

Ayrapetyan emphasized that cases are fabricated against innocent people, too. "When people weren't involved, but are threatened, including with torture, others are forced to testify against them. For example, one of my clients, who is serving a sentence in the Ulyanovsk region, told me that he is being pressured to testify about the events of 1999 against people he didn't even know before," the lawyer said.

In 2019, Vladimir Putin signed a law granting militiamen from Dagestan who fought militants in 1999 the status of combat veterans, along with the right to monthly payments and financial benefits. The list of applicants included about 28,000 people, but only 520 received certificates, and most of those who actually fought were not included, members of veterans' organizations stated in December 2020.