Briefs

Policeman and Brothers Murdered in Dagestan

A police officer and two of his brothers were found shot dead in a wooded area near what looked like a militant hideout in Dagestan’s Khasavyurt district, which borders Chechnya, RIA Novosti reported on April 3. Local police told the news agency that five automatic rifle and pistol shells were found at the scene along with a dugout to accommodate five people that contained food, camouflage uniforms, a gas stove with canisters, medicines, radical Islamist literature and materials and manuals for making bombs.

Two Men Convicted of Plotting to Kill Kadyrov

The Moscow City Court on April 2 found two men guilty of plotting to assassinate Chechen President Ramzan Kadyrov. The court sentenced Lors Khamiev, who was accused of masterminding the plot against Kadyrov, to eight years in prison, and Umar Batukaev, accused of illegally purchasing and possessing a weapon and using forged documents, to five years in prison, Itar-Tass reported. A third suspect, Ruslan Musaev, was acquitted of all charges. RIA Novosti reported that the three men, residents of Chechnya, were accused of being part of a terrorist group that planned to kill Kadyrov in May 2007 by detonating a car bomb near the Chechen representative office in downtown Moscow.