Russian court jails five over anti-Israel airport riot in Dagestan in October

MOSCOW — A Russian court has sentenced five people to prison terms of up to nine years for their involvement in an anti-Israel riot at an airport in the southern region of Dagestan.

Hundreds of protesters overran Russia’s Makhachkala airport on October 29, charging onto the runway in a bid to encircle a plane that had flown in from Israel.

The riot in the Muslim-majority region took place as tensions ran high around the world as Israel launched its ongoing military campaign in the Gaza Strip in response to Hamas’s deadly October 7 onslaught.

Dozens of protesters already received lighter sentences, including detention of up to 10 days, for their involvement in the riot.

Mobs break into the Makhachkala airport, in Russia’s north Caucasus, looking to lynch Jews after rumors spread about the arrival of Jewish refugees from Israel. pic.twitter.com/stMvyqNUqv

— Yaroslav Trofimov (@yarotrof) October 29, 2023

The court sentences four men to more than six years in prison for “participating in mass riots,” while a fifth defendant is sentenced to nine years for the same charge, as well as using “violence against law enforcement officers.”

“The defendants who were looking for the passengers of the flight from Tel Aviv… broke down the doors of the terminal and entered the tarmac… completely blocking the airport’s operation,” the court says in a press release on the verdict.

More than 1,500 people took part in the riot, with 136 of them identified, the court adds.