A Dagestani blogger has gone on a hunger strike in an Astrakhan pretrial detention center demanding a fair investigation.

Blogger Magomeddibir Magomeddibirov has declared a hunger strike in the Astrakhan pretrial detention center, where he has been held for about six months following a road conflict. The head of the Dagestan Public Monitoring Commission, Shamil Khadulaev, noted that the video shows that the opponent struck the blogger first, but that security forces detained Magomeddibirov.

Magomeddibirov faces up to seven years in prison

Dagestan blogger Magomeddibir Magomeddibirov, who is being held in an Astrakhan pretrial detention center, has declared a hunger strike demanding a fair investigation into his case.

The Dagestani television channel NNT published a video about this last night on its Instagram page*.

"After six months of imprisonment, I see no other way out but to declare a hunger strike, and from today on I will not eat anything," Magomeddibirov said in the video.

The video shows him standing behind bars, and a conversation with him The conversation is being conducted via video link.

The blogger was previously arrested under Part 1 of Article 213 of the Russian Criminal Code, "Hooliganism." On June 9, NNT journalists learned that the case had been reclassified from Part 1 to Part 2 – "Hooliganism by a group of persons by prior conspiracy." Magomeddibirov's property has been seized.

After the charges were reclassified, Magomeddibirov asked his father to file a complaint with the Russian president and the head of the Investigative Committee regarding the illegal actions of Astrakhan security forces, the report stated.

Social media users demanded a response from the authorities and the ombudsman.

Magomeddibirov was detained after a road rage incident with a handball coach in Astrakhan. The incident was captured on camera. The footage shows the coach striking the blogger first. As a result of the fight, Magomeddibirov suffered a concussion. But Astrakhan security forces detained him, Shamil Khadulaev, Chairman of the Public Monitoring Commission (PMC) of Dagestan, reported on his Telegram channel.

The post about Magomeddibir Magomeddibirov's hunger strike in pretrial detention was published on the blogger's Instagram* page, which has approximately 320,000 followers. As of 9:50 AM Moscow time on June 10, the post had garnered 9,360 likes and 540 comments.

"Freedom for the innocent," demanded krbbnnvva. "It's disgusting to watch this injustice," noted rinat.mrbv.

"They're persecuting this guy for absolutely no reason," said darkseide05. "I just can't even watch this. It's a disgrace," emphasized user futbolki_russiaa.

"Who hasn't had conflicts on the road? Punished, fined? Why and for what reason is this person sitting in pretrial detention for six months? Explain why he's been sitting there for six months?" wrote psyneuro_doc.

"Where is the human rights ombudsman? Where is the head of the committee on interethnic relations? There are so many cases like this all over Russia, where the investigations are biased. Senators, deputies... Where are the defenders of the people?" – user ab_19_73 asked.

Astrakhan handball club coach gives his version of the road conflict

Head coach of the Astrakhan handball club "Dynamo" Georgy Zaikin told RIA Novosti on December 13, 2025, that he had been involved in a road conflict that resulted in him being beaten.

"The conflict was caused by the aggressive driving of the BMW driver. He had previously been arrested for shooting, drifting, and hooliganism in Astrakhan in the same car," the news agency quoted Zaikin as saying.

The incident occurred in the evening when Zaikin was returning from training. According to the coach, the BMW driver cut him off while overtaking, causing Zaikin's car to veer off the road and be damaged. The BMW driver then began to break down Zaikin's car door and threaten him with violence.

As of 9:50 AM Moscow time, the websites of the Astrakhan Region Department of the Ministry of Internal Affairs and the Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation for the Astrakhan Region have not commented on Magomeddibirov's complaint about the unfair investigation of his case.

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