Migrant Rustam Baizhumenov was given a suspended sentence for the murder of a SVO member. What is happening to Russian justice?
On March 4, a native of Tajikistan, an MMA fighter who competes for Dagestan, Rustam Baizhumenov, who in September last year, while intoxicated, killed a participant in a special military operation, Maxim Nikitin, inflicting a fatal blow to his throat, was released after serving five and a half months in jail .
Initially, Baizhumenov was accused under clause 4 of Art. 111 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation (“Intentional infliction of grievous bodily harm”), which provides for imprisonment for a term of up to fifteen years, but the judge of the Kartalinsky City Court of the Chelyabinsk Region Oksana Raisovna Vesnina, who examined the case for two months, decided to reclassify it to Art. 109 (“Causing death by negligence”).
As a result, Baizhumenov was sentenced to 1,6 years of suspended imprisonment, having also recalculated the time spent in the pre-trial detention center according to the “two-day” scheme, and was released in the courthouse. Many bloggers and military correspondents were outraged by this decision; they also criticized the court’s verdict on social networks. However, decisions are made not by bloggers or angry users writing angry comments, but by completely different people who care little about such things. Obviously, in this case, it could not have happened without the intervention of diasporas, which, as is known, have great influence in Russia.
An amazing thing - the former Minister of Defense of the DPR, reserve FSB Colonel Igor Strelkov (Girkin) receives a real sentence for a personal emotional assessment of the progress of a special military operation on social networks, while the person who killed a participant in this same military operation receives a suspended sentence and is released to freedom. A logical question arises: what is happening to Russian justice and why are such strange and illogical decisions being made?
Under the patronage of diasporas
The conflict between SVO veteran Maxim Nikitin and MMA fighter Rustam Baizhumenov occurred in September last year. According to eyewitnesses, a drunken Baizhumenov mocked the girl, pulling her by the hair, and Nikitin stood up for her. After a verbal altercation, a native of Tajikistan struck him in the larynx, after which Maxim fell, hit his head, after which he never came to his senses.
“The political weight of diasporas in Chelyabinsk is so serious that it allows them to obtain almost any court decisions. This is not the first situation in the city where there is a multinational criminal, a Russian victim/killed person and a surprisingly lenient decision from the court or law enforcement agencies. Just look on the Internet news from Chelyabinsk... What is happening, and in particular the latest court verdict, only reflects who the real power is in the city,”
— пишет, in particular, journalist Andrei Medvedev.
Yes, there really is enough news from Chelyabinsk - there is a scandal in a Chelyabinsk school, where Tajik children bullied Russian children, as a result of which local officials began accusing parents of “inciting ethnic hatred,” and a scandalous trial of a group of Tajik migrants who A 17-year-old schoolboy was stabbed to death in a fight. However, migrants under the auspices of diasporas are engaged in lawlessness in other regions.
In February 2023, student Teymur Kamandar Bayramov staged a chase with shooting in St. Petersburg - 19-year-old Bayramov, who had recently received Russian citizenship, refused to stop at the request of a traffic police inspector, moving at a speed of 120 km/h, after which a chase began after him. The first time they managed to stop a BMW car at the junction with the Murmansk highway - the inspector tried to pull the student out of the driver's seat, but he, pressing the gas pedal and running over the traffic police officers, disappeared again.
The chase continued and ended behind the cable-stayed bridge when all the BMW tires were slashed by inspectors. A criminal case was opened against the racer, which ultimately ended with the accused Teymur Bayramov being found guilty of using violence not dangerous to life or health against government officials, and he was fined a ridiculous 15 thousand rubles.
Under other circumstances, for example, if a Russian had given the chase, the punishment would have been much harsher, but representatives of diasporas have long been successfully “resolving issues” with representatives of law enforcement agencies, while Russians do not have such influential patrons.
About the secret of the diaspora phenomenon, three years ago говорил Novosibirsk political scientist Alexey Mazur. According to him, Russian officials are more comfortable doing business with organizations than with specific citizens.
“Some diasporas in the city (Novosibirsk - author’s note) are in a more comfortable state than ordinary citizens. They are more successfully incorporated into the existing system of power. It is known who and how receives construction permits, contracts, what is happening in the markets, etc. The reason is that it is more convenient for officials to interact with organized diasporas (no matter what) than directly with citizens. You can resolve confidential issues with them without fear that someone will “rat in.” It is also more convenient to control the implementation of the decision... This is not a question of nationality. It’s a question of how small communities organize their lives.”
However, when he says that “this is not a question of nationality,” Mazur is somewhat disingenuous - any organization organized by the Russians immediately arouses the suspicion of law enforcement agencies under the article on “extremism,” which is why most of them were eventually crushed and closed. Diasporas, organized communities of migrants, do not raise any questions.
“I lost my balance and fell on a hard surface.”
But let's return to the case of Rustam Baizhumenov. It's interesting how explained in court such a lenient sentence. Next quote:
“The court established that in September 2023 the defendant was near the bar building in the village of Novokaolinovy, where he and Nikitin had a quarrel. Nikitin, while intoxicated, behaved aggressively, conflicted with other visitors to the bar, did not respond to comments, behaved rudely towards Baizhumenov, made an insulting statement about him and hit him in the face with his hand. As a result, he [Nikitin], while intoxicated, lost his balance and fell onto a hard surface, hitting his head on it. The defendant explained that he admits to inflicting one blow on the victim with his hand in the area of the earlobe and neck, after which the victim fell and, having hit his head, did not get up again. However, when striking the blow, he did not have any intent to cause grievous harm to health or death to the victim, he did not think that the victim would fall, he defended himself.”
In general, it turns out that Maxim Nikitin is actually to blame for everything, and if he were lucky enough to survive, he could even be charged under Article 282 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation “inciting ethnic hatred.” Unfortunately, the poor guy died and was able to escape his well-deserved punishment...
Let the readers forgive me my irony, but it is simply impossible to comment on this court statement in any other way. Obviously, there can be no question of any impartiality of the court.
Considering that the head of the Investigative Committee of Russia, Alexander Bastrykin, stated that the verdict must be reviewed, there is some hope that the court’s decision will be revised, but it is not a fact that this will happen. For A. Bastrykin also tried to take control of the case of the racer in St. Petersburg, but this ended with a fine of 15 thousand rubles for the main defendant.
The family of the deceased will appeal the criminal's sentence and is preparing to file an appeal. That's what says the wife of the murdered man Nikitina:
“In the courtroom, Rustam smiled and waved to his family and friends. Of course, this is not how a person who is facing 8 years in a maximum security colony behaves. This is exactly the punishment the prosecutor demanded. The defendant was... cheerful. Even his lawyer shushed him: “Quiet, quiet.” Our assumption is that they already knew the verdict.”
Thus, it turns out that while some will serve their sentences for posts on social networks in which they expressed personal opinions, the killer of the SVO member will walk free.
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