A fourth expert examination has been ordered in the case of Akhmad Batlukhsky.

The investigation has ordered a linguistic commission examination in the case of religious figure Akhmad Batlukhsky, accused of slandering the Muftiate of Dagestan. Three previous examinations found no slander in Batlukhsky's statements.

As reported by the Caucasian Knot, on November 8, Akhmad (Akhmed) Batlukhsky (Magomedov) was detained at the Moscow airport on slander charges and sent to Makhachkala. On November 10, the court remanded him in custody for 29 days; on December 5, his arrest was extended for another month. Batlukhsky had a conflict with the Muftiate of Dagestan and had been living outside of Russia in recent years, according to journalist Zaur Gaziyev. On December 27, the court extended Batlukhsky's arrest for the third time. The head of the Public Monitoring Commission (PMC) of Dagestan, Shamil Khadulaev, reported that an expert analysis found no slander against specific individuals in the former imam's audio recording.

The investigation has ordered a fourth expert examination in the case of Akhmad Batlukhsky, this time a linguistic commission examination, the religious figure's lawyer, Shakhban Shakhbanov, told the "Caucasian Knot."

Two of the three previous examinations were conducted by specialists from the Forensic Science Center of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Dagestan. "We, the defense, conducted the third examination with the assistance of an independent expert," he explained.

According to the lawyer, Batlukhsky learned of the criminal case while he was performing umrah—a minor pilgrimage to Mecca outside the Hajj timeframe. "When he learned about the criminal case, he was in Saudi Arabia for a while, then in Turkey. He decided to return to Russia because he thought the situation had returned to normal," Shakhbanov said. The defense attorney added that Batlukhsky had experienced problems receiving packages and depositing money from relatives into his account for some time in the pretrial detention center. "He asked if there were any packages, but they didn't tell him they had arrived. However, this issue was later resolved," Shakhbanov noted, without specifying the method or means of settlement.

The head of the Dagestan Public Monitoring Commission, Shamil Khadulaev, called the case against Akhmad Batlukhsky "an outrage and a complete violation of human rights."

"The slander case against the Mufti of Dagestan was opened on May 7, 2025, based on a complaint from the Mufti's secretary. But this man doesn't speak Avar—how could he understand Batlukhsky's speech, which was in Avar? The investigator also doesn't speak Avar, but he opened a case without waiting for the results of the forensic examination, even though the opposite is usually done: first, they conduct an examination, and then, if the results indicate a crime, they open a case. "On May 10th, he was placed on the wanted list, as if he had fled after the criminal case was opened, although he had been living peacefully in Dagestan and, in March, two months before these events, had gone on Hajj," Khadulaev explained to a "Caucasian Knot" correspondent.

When asked about this certificate, the investigator stated that he himself did not know how it ended up in the case.

He emphasized that none of the expert examinations conducted in Batlukhsky's case established the presence of slander in his statements. "The first examination in May showed that there were no grounds for the slander charge. The second, conducted in June, noted that Batlukhsky mentioned the mufti of Dagestan's connection with certain third parties behind the deaths of prominent Muslim scholars, but did not do so affirmatively. The third examination, announced on December 24, also showed no grounds for charges, after which his detention was hastily extended,” the head of the Public Monitoring Commission stated.

According to his defense, Batlukhsky's psychological and psychiatric examination was not conducted. Khadulaev He notes that the certificate of the accused's alleged drug addiction, which appeared in the case file, is false. "When I asked the investigator about this certificate, he said he himself didn't know how it ended up in the file," he emphasized.

Khadulaev visited Batlukhsky in his cell on December 28, and he did not complain about the conditions of detention or pressure from security forces. "He has normal conditions in his cell," the head of the Public Monitoring Commission noted. He cited the 2024 incident, when his mother was forced to leave the house given to their family 20 years earlier, as the only known instance of pressure on the religious figure's relatives. "They came and said: 'We gave it to him, so we're taking it away.'" "She left quite calmly," Khadulaev concluded.

"Caucasian Knot" also reported that in May 2024, the house of Akhmad Magomedov, who had already left Russia by that time, burned down in the Dagestani village of Batlukh. Three people were arrested for arson, and in January 2025, a court found them guilty. The court sentenced Akhmed Omarov to eighteen months in a penal colony, Abdul Abdulaev to one year and three months of suspended imprisonment, and Sultan Magomedov to eighteen months. They also must reimburse Batlukhsky for the cost of the house.