Magomed Kurabegov

A resident of Novosibirsk and a businessman. On 28 June 2024, Kurabegov was detained at Novosibirsk Tolmachevo airport and fined 500 rubles under the administrative article on disorderly conduct (Article 20.1 of the Code of Administrative Offences). According to the police report, he, "being in the arrival area in front of the passport control area of Terminal B, was emotionally agitated, waved his hands, expressed himself with coarse profanity, did not react to the comments of others, expressing a clear disrespect for society". Kurabegov claimed that he did nothing of the sort, but that police officers at Novosibirsk airport took away "some personal belongings" and asked him "to buy a ticket to Domodedovo airport," which he eventually did. The next day he was detained at the Moscow airport and then arrested for ten days under an administrative article on petty hooliganism involving disobedience to the lawful demands of police officers (part 2 of the article 20.1 of the Code of Administrative Offences). Kurabegov stated in court that the police were waiting for him at the gangway and did not allow him to meet with his lawyer. Later he was taken into custody on charges of confidential communication with foreigners. In September 2025, a letter from his cellmate Sergei Irin, who was later sentenced to 15 years in a strict regime colony on charges of donating money to the AFU (Armed Forces of Ukraine), revealed that, as Kurabegov himself claimed, the reason for the prosecution was the contact of a person associated with the Security Service of Ukraine in his phone book. However, as noted by the Memorial Human Rights Centre, the charges may also be related to Kurabegov's business of selling construction vehicles manufactured by the Chinese factory Shandong Heavy Industry. The businessman was sentenced to imprisonment no later than the summer of 2025; the details of the sentence are unknown.