The defendants in court. Photo: screenshot, Telegram, Krasnodar region court press service

Five men involved in violent unrest at Makhachkala Airport in October have been sentenced to between six and nine years in prison by a court in Russia’s southern Krasnodar region, its press service reported Friday.

Rabadan Radzhabov was sentenced to nine years in prison, Magomed Omaraskhabov to 6.5 years, while Anvarbek Ataev, Islam Ibragimov and Salik Ramazanov were given six years and four months in prison.

All five were found guilty of participating in the violent unrest, while Radzhabov was additionally convicted of being violent towards a representative of the authorities. The men all pleaded not guilty to the charges against them.

This was the first case brought against participants in the 29 October pogrom in Makhachkala, the capital of the Muslim-majority republic of Dagestan, in the North Caucasus, when a mob overran the airport, looking for “refugees from Israel”.

With tensions running high after the Hamas attacks of 7 October and Israel’s subsequent response in Gaza, a mob gained control of the airport terminal, proceeded to check people’s IDs and ransacked the building before making it onto the runway, where they attempted to board a flight that had just arrived from Tel Aviv.