MOSCOW. Aug 16 (Interfax) - Two militants in the Chechen Republic have been found guilty of attempting to kill military servicemen, a spokesperson for the Russian Investigative Committee (RIC) said on Tuesday.
"The evidence gathered by the RIC Main Investigative Directorate for the North Caucasus Federal District was deemed by the court sufficient for delivering a verdict against a Libyan citizen, Suleiman Uheida, and a Stavropol Territory resident, Alaudin Menlibayev. They were found guilty of having committed crimes stipulated in Article 209 part two and Article 317 of the Russian Criminal Code (membership in a gang, and attempting to kill military servicemen)," the statement said.
"The court sentenced Uheida and Menlibayev to 14 and 15 years at a high-security prison," the RIC spokesperson said.
Investigators and the court established that on February 29, 2000, the two men were among members of an armed group led by Shamil Basayev and Khattab, who attacked the Sixth company of the 104th regiment of the 76th Pskov Airborne Division in the mountainous and wooded area of Chechnya's Shatoi district.
"They attacked from three sides, with Uheida and Menlibayev targeting the troops from their positions with 5.45 millimeter Kalashnikov rifles. The attack, which lasted until the morning of March 1, 2000, left 84 servicemen dead and another four with various injuries," the statement said.
Earlier five other people, who were involved in the clash, including a Ukrainian, Oleksandr Malofeyev, who was a member of UNA-UNSO (a nationalist organization banned in Russia), were sentenced to long prison terms, the spokesperson said.