The defendants in the case of sabotage on a gas pipeline in Crimea received a sentence of 13 to 17 years in prison.

The Third Court of Appeal of General Jurisdiction in Sochi approved the verdict in the case of sabotage on a gas pipeline in the village of Perevalnoye in Crimea: Nariman Dzhelal was sentenced to 17 years in a maximum security colony, and brothers Asan and Aziz Akhtemov were sentenced to 15 and 13 years in maximum security, respectively. Crimean Solidarity reports this.

At the same time, the court toughened the conditions of detention for the sentenced: now they will have to spend the first three years in prison.

The court of first instance also sentenced the defendants to one and a half years of restriction of freedom after the end of the term. They will also have to pay fines: Akhtemov - 500 thousand rubles, Dzhelal - 700 thousand rubles.

Lawyer Safiye Shabanova reported that the appeal court excluded from the evidence the first testimony of Nariman Jelal, given by him as a witness, since it was obtained by the investigation under pressure. However, this did not affect the final verdict.

The Supreme Court of Crimea sentenced the defendants on September 21, 2022. The men are charged with articles of sabotage committed by a group of persons (clauses “a” and “b” of Part 2 of Article 281 of the Criminal Code), illegal possession of explosives by a group of persons (Part 4 of Article 222.1 of the Criminal Code) and smuggling of explosive devices by an organized group ( Part 3 of Article 226.1 of the Criminal Code).

According to investigators, in August 2021, the Akhtemovs, on instructions from the Ukrainian special services, installed an explosive device on a gas pipeline in the village of Perevalnoye, which led to an explosion and a short-term shutdown of gas supply. Dzhelal was accused of introducing the Akhtemovs to one of the alleged organizers of sabotage, collaborating with the Main Intelligence Directorate of Ukraine.

The case against the Akhtemovs and Dzhelal became known in September 2021 - then their home and two other people were searched. Later, the court sent the accused to a pre-trial detention center.

On September 13 of the same year, independent lawyer Aider Azamatov was able to meet with Asan Akhtemov. The man said that after his arrest he was tortured in the basement: they shocked him, put wires on his earlobes, and wrote “Grati.”

Akhtemov was forced to tell the version the security forces needed on camera. After that, they took him into the forest and suggested: “Come on, run and remember that I’m a good shooter.” He refused to run. He was taken to the FSB building, where he again repeated the required testimony. “Even now I have seizures when I fall asleep. I feel like I'm forgetting how to breathe. I haven’t really gone to the toilet for a week now,” Akhtemov said in a conversation with his lawyer.

On September 14, Aziz Akhtemov told his lawyer about the torture used on him, including electric shock, Crimea.Realii wrote. The brothers later retracted their confessions.

One of the witnesses in the case, Nariman Ametov, also spoke about torture. On December 17, 2021, he was searched . After that, as Ametov said, FSB officers put him in a car, put a bag over his head and took him out of the city. Then, according to the man, they took him into the basement, tied him with tape to a chair, and then began to shock him.

In June 2023, the Akhmetov brothers spoke about torture in Simferopol pre-trial detention center-2. Dzhelal’s wife Leviza Dzhelalova also spoke about the difficult conditions of detention: in the cells from six in the morning until ten o’clock in the evening you cannot sit or lie down, and prisoners are forced to memorize the Russian anthem.

“Any failure to comply with these requirements by the pre-trial detention center workers was punishable by standing in an uncomfortable position for the body, such as in a bent position at an angle of 90 degrees with the head down and hands up behind the back, or severe moral or psychological pressure,” writes Dzhelalova.

In May, it became known that due to the conditions in the pre-trial detention center, Nariman Jelal’s illness worsened - three intervertebral hernias, and the detention center staff refused to give him medicine to relieve back pain.