A resident of Ingushetia received a sentence for preparing an attack on a church in Sunzha.

The military court in Rostov-on-Don sentenced native of Nazran, Salakhan Gorbakov, to 16 years in prison for participating in a terrorist organization and preparing to set fire to an Orthodox church in Sunzha.

As reported by "Caucasian Knot", at the end of April, a case regarding the preparation of an attack on law enforcement officers and the Orthodox church in Sunzha was submitted to the court. By the end of the investigation, there were three junior defendants left in the case, for one of whom the prosecution requested compulsory treatment. In June, an 18-year-old defendant was sentenced to eight years in a general regime colony with a fine of 30,000 rubles. It was also reported that another defendant had already been sent by the court for compulsory treatment.

The Southern District Military Court announced the sentence for Salakhan Gorbakov, recognizing him as a participant in a terrorist organization and illegal armed formation, preparing a terrorist act and illegal trafficking in weapons and explosives by an organized group 1 .

According to the prosecution's version, from July 1 to August 24, 2024, Gorbakov corresponded online with two residents of Ingushetia. All three of them pledged allegiance to the leader of the "Islamic State" (IS*, designated as a terrorist organization in the Russian Federation).

Then the young men received the coordinates of a stash with weapons and explosives and agreed to carry out a terrorist act: to set fire to the Church of the Protection of the Holy Virgin in Sunzha, and then attack the law enforcement officers who arrived at the scene. The group's plans were thwarted by law enforcement, reported Interfax-South, citing the press service of the Southern District Military Court.

Gorbakov was sentenced to 16 years in a strict regime colony with a fine of 550,000 rubles. His accomplice, sentenced to eight years in a colony, is Adam Tankiev, and the third member of the group, sent for compulsory treatment, was Amin Bogolov, the agency notes.

The "Caucasian Knot" currently has no comments from the convicted or their defense.

All three convicted are natives of Nazran. Gorbakov was born on March 19, 2006, Tankiev - May 6, 2008, Bogolov - September 26, 2006. The data of all three were entered into the register of terrorists and extremists of Rosfinmonitoring on the same day, February 25, 2025.

Law enforcement announced the prevention of the planned attack on the Orthodox church in Sunzha a month after the high-profile terrorist attack in Dagestan: on June 23, on the Day of the Holy Trinity, which is one of the main Christian holidays, militants carried out attacks on synagogues and Orthodox churches in Derbent and Makhachkala. As a result, at least 22 people were killed, and 46 were injured.

"Caucasian Knot" prepared reports "Main about the participants of the attacks in Makhachkala and Derbent" and "Attacks on the church, synagogues, and law enforcement in Dagestan".

* the organization is recognized as terrorist and banned in Russia.

** the activities of the company Meta (which owns Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp) are banned in Russia.