Khalit Mustafayev's family has vowed to seek reopening of the case into his death.

The father of Khalit Mustafayev, who was killed by security forces during a pursuit in Stavropol in 2020, intends to seek reopening of the case against the security officer in higher courts. He escaped prosecution by going to the front. Mustafayev is certain that the dismissal of the case was tainted by corruption.

As reported by "Caucasian Knot," in July 2025, the Predgorny District Court of Stavropol dismissed the criminal prosecution of a police officer who had returned from the SVO zone for abuse of power. The father of Khalit Mustafayev, whom a security officer shot during a chase, called the decision unfair.

The Anti-Torture Team* today published a video report about the case of Khalit Mustafayev, whose death remains unpunished after former Interior Ministry officer Marchenko went to the military operation zone. The report shows the scene where Mustafayev was shot, footage from surveillance cameras, and some documents from the case file.

Sergey Dorofeyev, a participant in the events, who was riding in the same car with Mustafayev, described how the chase began. According to Dorofeyev, a car without flashing lights or special signals began pursuing them in Lermontov.

“We saw them from such a distance that it was impossible to tell what kind of car they were. As we were leaving Lermontov, we saw that they were traffic police officers; they were also following us, just silently,” he said.

Then, according to Dorofeev, they heard a single stop signal, after which the security forces began shooting at the car. However, according to CCTV footage, about five minutes passed between the first stop signal and the shots—the young men had time to stop, but they decided to ignore the signal.

According to Sergei Babinets, head of the Anti-Torture Team*, alcohol (1 ppm, the equivalent of two bottles of beer) was later found in Mustafayev’s system. “Perhaps that’s why Khalit decided to hide from the police,” he speculates.

According to Dorofeev, the security forces continued shooting at their car for some time. "They hit the car, but not the tires. On the approaches to the village of Suvorovskaya, they punctured two or three of our tires. We were driving at 20-25 km/h, and they continued shooting," he says.

According to the case materials, the security forces fired at least 20 shots at the car, punctured three tires, and Mustafaev continued driving on one. Then a second traffic police car joined the chase, and together they managed to corner Mustafaev's car and force it to the side of the road.

"They shot me in the back of the head from behind."

At the scene, Dorofeev reported that Khalit jumped out of the car and ran down the road. "Two shots were fired, and he fell there. When we asked them to take Khalit to the hospital, some of the traffic cops said there was no gas, while others said, 'Stay here until the ambulance arrives.'" We didn't listen to them, put Khalit in Eldar's car (Mustafayev's cousin, who arrived at the scene), and went to the hospital," he explains.

Video recordings and documents from the case file confirm that security forces shot Mustafayev in the back as he fled. The law on police allows security forces to use weapons to stop a car, but shooting at a fleeing person is legal in very limited circumstances. "Mustafayev didn't threaten, didn't try to take the weapon, didn't commit a crime, he could have simply been caught, but (officer) Marchenko decided it was better to shoot at the fleeing man," Babinets explains.

What kind of fight was there, that they shot him in the back of the head from behind, and the bullet came out of his eye?

At the hospital where they took him Khalit Mustafayev was initially taken to intensive care, but it was discovered that he had died at the scene of the incident. "The resuscitation specialist said, 'Why did you bring me a corpse?'" recalls the victim's father, Bakir Mustafayev, who in the first hours after the incident hoped that his son was only wounded and would survive. According to Bakir, the deputy head of the investigative department later tried to convince him that there had been a "fight" between the security forces and Khalit. "I grabbed him by the scruff of the neck: 'Shoot me from behind!' What kind of fight was there, that they shot me in the back of the head from behind, and a bullet came out of my eye?" he asks indignantly.

Police officer caught using drugs

An examination revealed that the Interior Ministry officers were using drugs: a forensic chemical analysis of the case file confirmed that traces of marijuana were found in Marchenko's urine. An internal investigation was subsequently conducted, as a result of which Marchenko was dismissed from the Interior Ministry.

"When the case went to court, it was immediately suspended because Marchenko had gone to the Special Military District, and then completely dismissed because Marchenko was wounded and received several state awards," Babinets recalls.

Bakir Mustafayev is confident that this method of deflecting the security officer from responsibility was pre-planned and not without a corruption element. He noted that before the case was suspended, Marchenko's relatives sold one of their apartments.

“It was all prearranged: they sent him away to write off everything, ‘war will write off everything.’ He received three awards: July, December, and January. People serve there for three years and don’t have a single award, but he gets two in two months. They brought a certificate from the medical unit stating he was wounded, but you wouldn’t know it from looking at him. He knew he’d buy his way out; his uncle is the regional minister of housing and communal services. We’ll fight to the end, and we’ll see how the higher courts view this. He took what was most precious to me. It would be better if my son buried me than for me to visit him,” concluded Bakir Mustafayev. He noted that he visits his son's grave daily.

* are listed as foreign agents.

** Meta (owner of Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp) is banned in Russia.