00:04, 16 June 2026

The Kambiev murder trial has been postponed indefinitely.

The Nalchik City Court has declared an extended recess in the murder case of Russian judo champion Aslan Kambiev. The lawyer for the injured party claimed the trial was being delayed.

As reported by "Caucasian Knot," in April, the Supreme Court of Kabardino-Balkaria overturned Ruslan Kudayev's acquittal in the murder of Russian judo champion Aslan Kambiev. The case was sent back to the trial court for a new trial.

On February 1, 2022, Aslan Kambiev, multiple medalist and winner of the Russian and European judo and sambo championships, was shot during an argument on Lermontov Street in Nalchik. On March 8, 2022, he died at the Sklifosovsky Clinic in Moscow. On February 24, the Nalchik City Court found Ruslan Kudayev, a resident of the village of Psygansu, guilty of the murder of Kambiyev. Kudayev was found guilty under Article 108 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation (murder in excess of the limits of necessary defense) and released from punishment (1 year and 10 months of restricted freedom) due to the expiration of the statute of limitations for criminal prosecution. The charge of illegal acquisition of firearms (Part 1 of Article 222 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation) was also dropped.

The court announced an indefinite recess in the trial of Aslan Kambiev, a resident of the village of Psygansu, Ruslan Kudayev, lawyer Anna Pogosyan, representing the injured party, told the "Caucasian Knot" on June 15.

According to Pogosyan, the defendant Kudayev appeared at the first hearing on May 20 without his lawyers, stating that his lawyers were busy with another case. The judge immediately postponed the hearing for three weeks, until June 15. Pogosyan called this decision a delay.

The question of choosing a preventive measure for the defendant was not even raised for discussion, noted the representative of the injured party. The reason for the new adjournment was that the cassation court requested the case file following a complaint from Kudayev's lawyers. "At the hearing on June 15, the judge informed us that on June 3, the case was remanded for review by the Fifth Court of Cassation following an appeal by the defendant's lawyers," Pogosyan reported.

After Kudayev's acquittal, the victim's widow stated that the court ignored witness testimony. The trial court committed numerous violations, the lawyer for the victim's family pointed out.

According to case materials, on the day of the murder, Aslan Kambiev came to speak with Kudayev, whom he knew, so that he would stop demanding the return of money from businessman Bashorov. After shooting Kambiev, Ruslan Kudayev fled and hid the weapon, which was never found. He reported to law enforcement only five days later, and the dashcams from the cafe where the murder took place had disappeared.

Representatives of the victims insist that Kudayev had prepared for the murder in advance and therefore arrived at the meeting place, a cafe owned by his brother, with a pistol. During the investigation and in court, Kudayev claimed to have found the pistol in the cafe, either on a sofa or on the floor: he allegedly fell and accidentally ended up with it.

Kudayev provided no financial assistance to the family of the deceased. He also failed to apologize to the athlete's widow, who was left with three small children, or to the mother of the deceased.

Translated automatically via Google translate from https://www.kavkaz-uzel.eu/articles/424134