03:55, 25 September 2025

The prosecution has requested a two-year prison sentence for Roman Murdiev.

Mansur Soltayev and Roman Murdiev. Still from the Chechnya Today video: https://t.me/chechnyatoday/34929

A Moscow court plans to announce the verdict today for Chechen schoolboy Roman Murdiev, accused of hooliganism. The prosecutor demanded a two-year prison sentence.

As reported by the "Caucasian Knot," ninth-grader Roman Murdiev (referred to as Muslim in Chechen media), accused of hooliganism, has been deprived of his constitutionally guaranteed right to an education. The teenager's house arrest has been repeatedly extended, stated Chechen Human Rights Commissioner Mansur Soltayev. On May 7, the court allowed Murdiev to attend school remotely. At the end of July, the court remanded him under house arrest.

14-year-old Chechen teenager Roman Murdiev was charged with disturbing public order and using violence (Article 213 of the Russian Criminal Code, "hooliganism"). The criminal case stemmed from a fight in which the teenager, according to him, stood up for a 12-year-old boy he knew. The defense maintains Murdiev's innocence, claiming he was protecting the boy from another participant in the conflict. In addition to the Chechen teenager, there are four other defendants in the case. Of several videos published by the Investigative Committee, only one, in which Murdiev is identified by name, suggests his involvement in the conflict. More information about Murdiyev's case can be found in the Caucasian Knot report "Roman Murdiyev: The Teenager Kadyrov Defended".

Payment arguments were held in Roman Murdiyev's trial on September 24, with the prosecutor requesting a two-year prison sentence. The verdict is scheduled for September 25, according to the Chechnya Today news agency.

Chechnya's Human Rights Commissioner, Mansur Soltayev, who is representing the teenager in the trial, spoke during the oral arguments. He asked the court to choose a non-custodial sentence for the teenager.

In his speech, Soltayev stated that he is confident of Murdiyev's innocence, otherwise he "would not have defended" him. An audio recording of a fragment of the speech was published on the news agency’s Telegram channel.

“Our position is supported by legally sound arguments. His defense is based on facts and strong legal support. (...) We believe that a fair and impartial hearing will inevitably lead to acquittal. We look forward to a fair decision,” he was quoted as saying in the publication.

Ramzan Kadyrov, in connection with the Murdiyev case, accused the heads of the Ministry of Internal Affairs and the Investigative Committee, Vladimir Kolokoltsev and Alexander Bastrykin, of professional incompetence during a direct line broadcast in December 2024. "The Murdiyev case shows that the people at the top, like Bastrykin and Kolokoltsev, are not in their rightful places," Chechnya Today quoted Kadyrov as saying. Human rights activists interviewed by the Caucasian Knot considered Kadyrov's criticism of the heads of security agencies a test of influence.

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Translated automatically via Google translate from https://www.kavkaz-uzel.eu/articles/415719