Melikov responded to an appeal from Dagestan fighters in support of the rioters

The head of Dagestan, Sergei Melikov, commented on the statements of the republic’s fighters that the participants in the riots at the Makhachkala airport on October 29 need to soften the preventive measure so as not to “break the fate of the young.” According to Sergei Melikov, riot participants will be equal before the law, and “those who are guilty should not escape responsibility.”

Mr. Melikov told reporters that he has a good attitude towards ex-UFC fighter Khabib Nurmagomedov and “welcomes his appeal.” At the same time, he noted that the athlete made this statement “after reading some context” of the speeches of Sergei Melikov, who was not there. Sergei Melikov believes that as a result of the “distortion” of his statements about responsibility for riot participants, he was “made into a monster.” “Who demands that everyone who was at the airport that night be punished? There were those who flew away and those who arrived, should we punish everyone? Of course not. After all, there is a law and there is responsibility, and before the law, you and I, and those who were on Sunday, are equal,” he said (quoted by TASS).

Sergei Melikov noted that “someone must answer for the unrest.” According to him, those who disrupted the airport’s operations for a day, but did not help the residents of Palestine in any way, must answer. “Let’s let those answer who quietly smashed shop windows, took out souvenirs, products, or those who dismantled the paving stones, probably in order to throw these stones at employees,” said Mr. Melikov.

October 31 Sergey Melikov named riot participants were “bestial cowards,” “scum,” and “scoundrels.” At the same time, he stated that the participants in the pogrom should be isolated from society and “no leniency should be given to them” so that they would not “forget what they are guilty of.”

On the same day, European freestyle wrestling champion Makhmud Magomedov published on Instagram (owned by Meta, banned and recognized as extremist in the Russian Federation) an appeal to the government of Dagestan with a request to mitigate the punishment for riot participants. In his appeal, Makhmud Magomedov asks local authorities, including the head of the republic Sergei Melikov, “not to ruin the fate of young guys” and “punish them demonstrably” so that “others will be afraid.” Today, November 1, to Magomedov’s address have joined ex-UFC champion Khabib Nurmagomedov and fighter Muhammad Mokaev.

Read more about what happened in the Kommersant article. “The riots were approached under the Code of Administrative Offences”.