The Moscow City Court (MGS) re-examined lawyers’ complaints against the sentence handed down to Magomed Ismailov and Eldar Khamidov, who were previously found to be the instigators of the 2017 shootout in the Oko tower in Moscow City, which led to the death of one person and injuries to five more. Ismailov and Khamidov received 16 and 15 years in prison, respectively. For the first time, the court of appeal overturned the verdict, but the cassation court, where the prosecutor’s office appealed with a protest, sent the complaints to the MGS for a new consideration.
The re-consideration of lawyers’ complaints took a little more than three hours from the appellate instance of the Moscow City Court. After listening to the arguments of the parties, the city court supported the victims and the prosecution and, rejecting the complaints of the defense of Magomed Ismailov and Eldar Khamidov, left the verdict of the Presnensky District Court unchanged.
The convicts, who participated in the meeting via video link, listened to the court’s decision in silence and looked gloomy at the same time. Lawyer Anton Gostev, representing the interests of the victims, called the decision “legal and justified.” The defense of the convicts intends to appeal against it. Recall that on May 31, 2021, Magomed Ismailov, who headed the security of the co-owner of the Oko tower Gavriil Yushvaev, was sentenced to 16 years in a strict regime colony, and his subordinate Eldar Khamidov to 15 years. Natives of Dagestan were found guilty of attempted murder (Article 30 and Part 2 of Article 105 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation), illegal trafficking in weapons (Article 222 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation), and Ismailov was also found guilty of stealing a service Makarov pistol (PM) from a seriously wounded in a shootout by Russian Guard fighter Dmitry Yakobson (part 1 of article 226 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation). The verdict was delivered on the basis of a unanimous decision of the jury, who decided that both did not deserve leniency.
However, six months later, the appellate instance of the Moscow City Court overturned this verdict. But the Prosecutor General’s Office, whose representatives supported the prosecution during the process, as well as the representatives of the victims, did not agree with this decision, and the Second Court of Cassation took their side, sending the verdict for reconsideration to the court of appeal.
About the events that formed the basis of the criminal case, Kommersant spoke more than once. On November 17, 2017, the 50th anniversary of the “authoritative” businessman Dmitry Pavlov was celebrated in the restaurant of the Oko Tower. Among the guests was the co-owner of the tower, businessman Gavriil Yushvaev. When the businessman climbed into the building, his driver had a conflict with the employees of a private security company who were watching the order: Mr. Yushvaev’s Maybach blocked the entrance to the building. Soon the guards of Mr. Yushvaev, led by Magomed Ismailov, approached the scene, after which the situation began to escalate. Disputers tried to separate the approaching employees of the Russian Guard Dmitry Yakobson and Dmitry Ivanchev. In the end, the case says, at Ismailov’s command, his subordinates took out weapons, and shooting began, which eventually moved to the restaurant. After that, panic began in the hall, the performance of Cirque du Soleil was disrupted, and the guests fled. At the same time, as it turns out during the investigation, the Dagestanis also used the PM, stolen by Ismailov from the seriously wounded National Guard officer Yakobson, for shooting. As a result of the shootout, one person was killed and five wounded.
The verdict handed down to Ismailov and Khamidov will certainly affect the outcome of the trial in the case of the former investigator of the Moscow Department of the ICR Levon Agadzhanyan. He was involved in the shootout case and, according to his former colleagues, wanting to render a service to Gavriil Yushvaev, falsified the materials of the investigation, presenting the Russian Guards and Chopovites as the instigators of the conflict in Moscow City. However, after the case was transferred to the central office of the Investigative Committee of Russia, this version was refuted, and Levon Agadzhanyan himself, who by that time had become a lawyer, was arrested. The case of the investigator, who was charged with abuse of official powers (Article 285 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation) and bringing obviously innocent persons to criminal responsibility (Article 299 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation) has not yet been submitted to court. But the trial of another participant in the shooting, Said Asadulaev, is nearing completion.
