2002 Kaspiysk bombing

2002 Kaspiysk bombing
Aftermath of the Kaspiysk bombing
Location	Kaspiysk, Dagestan
Date	May 9, 2002
Attack type	Land mine-based bombing
Death(s)	43
Injured	More than 130
Perpetrator(s)	Blamed on Rappani Khalilov

2002 Kaspiysk bombing was a May 9, 2002, attack which ripped through the military parade to commemorate the 57th anniversary of Soviet victory in the World War II on Lenin Street in the city of Kaspiysk, Dagestan.

Russian officials immediately said 34 people, including at least 19 soldiers and 12 children, have been killed and 150 wounded in the explosion.^[1] Nine wounded died later.

Investigation

According to the indictment brought after the investigation, the explosion was organized by the Dagestani militant Rappani Khalilov. Khalilov allegedly sent his envoy named Kazim Abdurakhmanov to Dagestan to organize the bombing. Abdurakhmanov offered Abdulkhalim Abdulkarimov to join the terror plot, and Abdulkarimov agreed. Another militant, Dzhamal Turulayev, ordered Murad Abdurazakov to build the remotely controlled land mine-based bomb. The bomb was delivered to the potential explosion spot by Khanali Umakhanov. Abdulkarimov was videotaping the bomb installation, while Turulayev triggered the explosion by remote control.

However, on July 1, 2005, the jury found Abdulkhalim Abdulkarimov and Murad Abdurazakov not guilty of participating in the bombing.^[2] They were found guilty on other charges, such as participating in illegal armed formations, possessing weapons and counterfeiting documents, and they were sentenced to 14 years (Abdurazakov) and 11 years (Abdulkarimov) of imprisonment.^[3]

Khanali Umakhanov was also found not guilty of most of the charges he was facing in court (including terrorism) on October 20, 2005. He was found guilty of transporting the remote control device that triggered the bomb and sentenced to four years in prison, but the jury decided he did not know how the device was going to get used.^[4] The sentence was later reduced to two years on appeal and he was released.^[5] After release, he sued the Russian government for being tortured when in custody and unlawful prosecution. On October 10, 2007, the court found the government liable and awarded him 5,000,000 rubles (approx. USD 200,000) in punitive damages.^[6] The award was reduced to 3,000,000 rubles on appeal.^[7]

Six Russian soldiers from units deployed at Buinaksk in Dagestan were also arrested for allegedly selling an anti-personnel mine to the men who carried out the attack.^[8] They were put on trial in January 2003.^[9]

As of December 2009, none of the other people who were still wanted by the law enforcement in connection with the plot (including Turulayev and Abdurakhmanov) have been arrested. The alleged mastermind, Rappani Khalilov was killed in Dagestan on September 18, 2007.

Some Russian journalists, citing the 1999 bombings, speculated that the FSB might itself have been behind the Kaspiisk event. "In Kaspiisk, the bomb had been planted at the border of the road taken by the military parade on the days of tight police security. It may point either to complete heedlessness of law enforcement or to their deliberate inattention to a possibility of terrorist acts," the Prima News Agency wrote.^[10]

References