Natives of North Ossetia convicted of assault on businessman under guise of FSB officers

| News, North Caucasus

The Moscow Garrison Military Court found six former FSB officers and two of their accomplices guilty of assaulting a businessman and stealing 1.5 million euros from him. Among the convicts are two natives of North Ossetia, the senior instructor of the Alpha special unit Khetag Margiev and the detachment officer Vladimir Urusov.

Urusov received nine years in a strict regime colony and Margiev received eight and a half. The Moscow Garrison Military Court also recovered 933 thousand euros from them and their accomplices in favour of the victim. Two more defendants, one of whom is a native of Ossetia, Artur Dzutsev, has been put on the wanted list, and the criminal case against him is in a separate proceeding.

As follows from the materials of the case, the defendants, acting as part of an organised group, under the guise of carrying out operational activities, attacked businessman Alexander Yumaranov, who was accompanied by four people, on Metallurg Bank prosperity and stole his money.

According to the text of the verdict, at the time of the implementation of the criminal intent, most of the defendants were active members of the FSB. To attack the victim, they used traumatic pistols, walkie-talkies, and a uniform resembling that of the FSB special forces to impersonate security officials and claim that their actions were a part of operational activities.

The convicts explained that they committed the crime because of the difficult financial situation.

Irina Dobroselskaya, Vladimir Urusov's lawyer, considered the verdict unfair, calling the fact that the defendants were stripped of their military ranks "particularly egregious."

"My client was not wearing a uniform, he did not show any identification to anyone, and the court considered that this was established, and therefore deprived him of his military rank," the lawyer said. She believes that much of the verdict is far-fetched. In turn, the representative of the victim, lawyer Roman Bulysov, said that he was satisfied with the outcome of the case.

Ramazan Nazhduev, a 38-year-old former officer of the Border Guard Service of the FSB of Russia, who retired in 2017 due to his seniority, was put on record in Dagestan under the category of "extremist."

In 2019, a resident of Dagestan, Zaur Yusufov, was detained on suspicion of fraud. According to the press service of the Ministry of Internal Affairs for Dagestan, 38-year-old Yusufov "offered illegal services in employment in law enforcement agencies" and managed to collect 41 thousand euros for his "services." According to the newspaper "Chernovik," Yusufov previously worked in the Department of the Federal Security Service of Russia for Dagestan in the Southern Territorial District.

See Also

"Caucasus Watch" seeks local specialists from Georgia, Armenia, Azerbaijan and the North Caucasus region. We offer a flexible format of cooperation, competitive remuneration and access to a European readership. Send CV, cover letter and writing sample to redaktion@caucasuswatch.de. Questions: i.dostalik@caucasuswatch.de

Our website uses cookies. By clicking on "I accept cookies", you consent to our use of cookies in accordance with the terms of our Cookie Policy. If you want to disable cookies follow the instructions in our Cookie Policy so that cookies from this website cannot be placed on your device.