5 Muslims were killed by law enforcement officers in Kabardino-Balkaria and presented as militants and victims of the Counter-Terrorism Operation (CTO) declared to destroy them. They are Anzor Barazov, Asker Mendokhov, Tamaz Chikhradze, Khasanbi Khupsargenov and Khasan Shogenov.
The so-called National Anti-Terrorist Committee (NAC) described the incident as follows: «Today, around three o’clock in the morning, the bandits were blocked in one of the houses of a garden community in the suburbs of Nalchik. They were offered to hand over their weapons and surrender to the authorities. In response, they opened fire on the law enforcement officers. As a result of the shooting, five bandits were destroyed».
However, the information provided by the relatives and friends of the deceased paints a completely different picture. On July 1, before the alleged CTO in which they were killed, they all disappeared to different places — some left work, some left home, and some left the mosque. The wife of one of them wrote the following on July 3: «Four brothers disappeared the day before yesterday. And they don’t know each other. They have the same scenario. They will be found dead as ‘terrorists'». As we can see, this is exactly what happened — as planned.
Another striking aspect of this story is that for the second time in recent months, law enforcement officials have killed a Muslim who had won, or was about to win, a case against them at the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR). In late May, this happened in Crimea with Nabi Rahimov, whose widow was later threatened with deportation and her children with deportation (https://golosislama.com/news.php?id=39824). This time it is Hasanbi Khupsargenov (pictured), who filed a complaint with the ECHR against Russian security forces and, according to numerous witnesses, was strongly advised to withdraw it. Khupsargenov served 13.5 years in the notorious «Nalchik case» or «Case 58». Since even some of those sentenced to life imprisonment in this case, such as Rasul Kudayev, are confident of their innocence in the 2005 Nalchik raid, experts have no doubts about people like Khupsargenov who received such a «short» sentence. After all, the trial itself, based on a conveyor belt of fallacies and forced confessions, is considered exemplary in this sense. And, by the way, what was tested then in the Caucasus is now becoming the norm in the rest of Russia — the principle of «THIS IS DIFFERENT», as we can see, did not work.
Khupsargenov was detained in Krasnoyarsk, tortured, went on hunger strike and miraculously survived to be released in 2019. He also decided to seek justice by filing a complaint with the ECHR. However, as we can see, doing so while in Russia (and sometimes even outside its borders) is deadly dangerous. As for the others killed and included in the «CTO,» the fact that lists are being compiled of Muslims who adhere to their beliefs is no longer news. Nor is it surprising that, if necessary, in order to receive new awards and honors, they automatically become targets for some of those involved. Such news has not been heard from Kabardino-Balkaria for a long time — lately the punishers have been more concerned with opposition figures, undesirable organizations and foreign agents. But we must constantly remind ourselves — do not think that in the midst of all this they will forget about Muslims. This dragon will periodically choose victims from one «flock» or another, and it will never be satisfied.