Twenty-seven-year-old Badrudin Musayev, the son of the current mayor of Makhachkala, Musa Musayev, was tried on charges of using force and insulting the authorities. The case was being considered in the Sovetsky District Court of the capital of Daghestan for several months. The court found the mayor’s son innocent.

The incident occurred on 31 May in Makhachkala. According to the indictment, Badrudin Musayev violated traffic rules while driving in the city. After the traffic police stopped him, he and his companion Datsi Khazamov allegedly acted aggressively towards the police. According to the investigation, Musayev and Khazamov beat the policemen and threatened them with ‘more serious bodily harm’.

The alleged perpetrators were detained and taken to the police station. Later, a criminal case was filed under the article of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation ‘Use of violence endangering human life or health, or threats to use violence against a representative of the authority, or his relatives, in connection with the discharge by his official duties’.

Later the prosecutors launched proceedings in connection with another article as well — ‘Insulting a representative of authority’. The defendant denied his guilt in court.

Musayev was facing up to ten years imprisonment. The judge of the Sovetsky District Court of Makhachkala Patimat Makhatilova acquitted him of all charges. The announcement of the verdict took place without the presence of journalists.

According to the weekly «Novoye Delo», on the morning of 12 September, the day when the verdict was announced, a correspondent of the newspaper was in the reception room of the judge, where they were told that ‘there will be no announcement today and the date is unknown’.

Another weekly Molodyozh Dagestana also reports that their journalist ‘despite repeated attempts, failed to obtain information about the date of the announcement of court rule’.

A source in Daghestan’s law enforcement told OC Media that the republic’s Prosecutor’s Office intends to appeal the verdict.

As for Datsi Khazamov, the court considered his case separately from the case of Musayev. He was prosecuted under the article ‘Use of violence that is not dangerous for life and health against a representative of the authorities’.

However, during the trial he underwent a psychiatric examination, which recognised Khazamov as suffering from mental disorders. The court assigned him a compulsory treatment at a special clinic.