Russian court sentences five men to prison for anti-Israel riots at Dagestan airport

Moscow: A court in southern Russia sentenced five men to more than six years in prison each on Friday. These were the first convictions in connection with a mass demonstration against Israel last October at an airport in the predominantly Muslim region of Dagestan.

The men, who were sentenced to prison terms ranging from just over six to nine years for participating in riots, admitted no guilt, the court in Krasnodar region said. One protester was also found guilty of committing violence against a government official.

Due to the sensitivity of the case, the trial was moved from Dagestan to Krasnodar.

Last October, hundreds of anti-Israel protesters stormed an airport in the city of Makhachkala where a plane from Tel Aviv had just landed amid unrest in the North Caucasus against Israel's war against the Palestinian militant group Hamas in the Gaza Strip.

Video footage showed the protesters, mostly young men, waving Palestinian flags, smashing glass doors and running through the airport shouting “Allahu Akbar” (God is greater).

The crowd gathered at the airport after a message on a local Telegram channel called on Dagestan residents to deal with the “uninvited guests” in an “adult manner” and persuade the plane and its passengers to turn around and fly elsewhere.

The channel, which was later blocked by Telegram, did not use the word “Jew” but referred to the plane’s passengers as “unclean.”

Before security forces were able to bring the unrest under control, more than 20 people were injured. No one on board the plane was hurt.

Police arrested dozens of people whose cases are now being tried in Russian courts.

President Vladimir Putin blamed the West and Ukraine for the unrest, but offered no evidence. Kyiv denied any involvement and the United States strongly condemned the violence.