Batalkhadzhins (Belkharoevites, Batlaks)

Main article: Ingushetia

In February 2023, the combat wing of the Batal-Haji Belkhoroev Vird was recognized as a terrorist organization.

Governance and ideology

Batalkhadzhins have a strict hierarchical governance structure. It consists of a leader and representatives of authoritative names, a council of elders and a power bloc.

In 2007 , a mosque named after B.H. Belkhoroev was opened in the village of Surkhakhi, a visit to which is allowed only to representatives of the vird.

Batalkhadzhintsy promote theses about their ancient national identity (Orstkhoy, lived in the Ingush districts of Sunzhensky and Malgobek), related to the Chechens and their religious guidelines.

As of 2022, Batlaks practice marriages only within their Vird, which raises questions and distrust among other members of Ingush society.

Influence

According to various estimates, the number of Batalkhadzhins in 2022 includes from several thousand to tens of thousands of people.

Virda participants have political and financial influence in Ingushetia: family members have long held posts in local authorities and work in business, acquiring serious connections with the help of money.

For 2022 in Ingushetia, the influence of the Batal-Haji organization is difficult to underestimate: a mosque was built in his honor, an order was established, which is awarded for their contribution to strengthening interethnic peace and the development of Islamic values.

In the Achkhoy-Martan district of Chechnya in 2014, on the initiative of the head of Chechnya, Ramzan Kadyrov, a mosque named after Batal-Haji was erected.

Members of the vird, headed by the then head of Ingushetia, Yunus-Bek Yevkurov (who closely communicated with the clan) in 2017, achieved the inclusion of the burial place (ziyarat) Batal-Haji in the village of Surkhakhi in the unified state register of cultural heritage objects of federal significance. However, after an examination conducted in 2022 from the Ministry of Culture of the Russian Federation, experts concluded that it was illegal. Later that year, the Prosecutor General's Office of the Russian Federation excluded the burial from the register.

History

2024: Ex-head of the prosecutor's office of Ingushetia accused of ties with Batalkhadzhintsy militants

The ex-head of the department of their own security and physical protection of the prosecutor's office of Ingushetia, Nurda Doklaev, will be tried for communication with militants from the Batalkhadzhintsy vird.

As it became known to the media in February 2024, at the request of one of the community leaders recognized as terrorist in the Russian Federation, Doklaev tried to release three members of the military sect detained by the police. For help, he was "thanked" by a Volkswagen Touareg car.

In addition, according to the investigation, Doklaev transmitted information to the militants about the activities of law enforcement agencies aimed "at suppressing and investigating crimes committed."

2023: The combat wing of the Batal-Haji Belkhoroev vird was recognized as a terrorist organization

In February 2023, the combat wing of the Batal-Haji Belkhoroev Vird was recognized as a terrorist organization.

2022: Leader of the organization Mustafa Belkharoyev, head of the Accounts Chamber of Ingushetia, detained

In October 2022 Ingushetia , the leader of the vird Batal-Haji Belkhoroev, Mustafa Belkharoeva, who holds the post of head of the Accounts Chamber of Ingushetia, was detained. Together with him were detained a former deputy of the People's Assembly of Ingushetia Mikail Aliyev and businessman Tarkhan Zyazikov (according to some sources - Thamathan Zyazikov). During the searches, guns, pistols, automatic weapons, a grenade launcher, grenades and other ammunition were seized from the participants. 

They were detained in the case of the murder in 2019 of the head of the Center for Countering Extremism of Ingushetia, Ibragim Eldzharkiev. According to the investigation, members of the group are involved in more than 10 more crimes - from extortion and robbery to murder. The main motive of the Batalkhadzhins to the attempt on Eldzharkiev was the suspicion of the official's involvement in the murder in December 2018 of one of the leaders of the Batalkhadzhins, Ibrahim Belkharoev. Then Belkharoev's car was fired upon by unknown persons, he died on the spot. The murdered Ibrahim Belkharoyev was the great-grandson of the Ingush Sheikh Batal-Haji Belkhoroev.

The leaders of the "Batalkhadzhins," having conducted their own investigation, announced to their supporters that Eldzharkiev, allegedly associated with the Wahhabis, was involved in the murder.

A few days later, in January 2019, the first attempt on Eldzharkiev took place.

2020: Arrest of Yakub Belkhoroev, head of the Ingush branch of the Social Insurance Fund

As reported by the "Caucasian Knot," on July 10, 2020, law enforcement officers announced the detention of the head of the Ingush branch of the Social Insurance Fund Yakub Belkhoroev, the next day he was arrested on charges of embezzling 19 million rubles from the budget. Yakub Belkhoroev is one of the leaders of the Batalkhadzhins - members of the Batal Haji brotherhood. He was appointed mayor of Magas in 2011. In 2014, he became the manager of the regional branch of the Social Insurance Fund. In parallel with 2016, Yakub Belkhoroev was a deputy of the People's Assembly from United Russia and a member of the parliamentary committee on education, culture and relations with religious organizations. After his arrest, he was expelled from United Russia.

1933: Batal-Haji's sons shot

The sons of Batal-Haji are Mehti, Issa (arrested and shot in 1930 ) and Musa (arrested and shot in 1933 ).

1914: Death of Sheikh Batal-Haji in exile in Kozelsk

Sheikh Batal-Haji was born in 1824 in the town of Somiokh near the village of Nesterovskaya, Sunzhensky district of the modern republic of Ingushetia, in the family of the highlander Anarbek Belkhoroev. He was not even seven years old when his mother died, and soon his father was gone. His half-brothers gave him to his maternal relatives in Chechnya, where he spent 8-9 years. At that time, the Kadariya tariq Sheikh-ustaz Kunta-Haji Kishiev lived and preached in Chechnya. Batal became an active follower.

In 1892, the tsarist administration twice expelled Batal-Haji with his family to the city of Kozelsk, Kaluga province, where he spent five years. Returning from the first exile, he went to Hajj in Mecca and Medina.

In 1911, the 90-year-old Sheikh was again exiled, in exile he spent three years. He died in exile in 1914 in Kozelsk after a short illness. On October 25, 1914, with a large gathering of people, his body was interred in the Ingush village of Surkhakhi.

Currently, the ziyarat of St. Sheikh Batal-Haji is located at the burial site. Surkhahi is considered the "capital" of the Batalhajins.