Son of Dagestan Official Gets 7.5-Year Sentence for Fatal Crash
In Saratov, the verdict was announced for former Saratov State Law Academy (SGLA) student Daniyal Shikhtaimov, found guilty of a fatal traffic accident on May 27, 2025, in which a 13-year-old girl died. Judge Daria Bogdanova sentenced the Dagestan official«s son to 7.5 years of imprisonment in a strict-regime colony.
The verdict was announced at the Kirovsky District Court on February 2. Shikhtaimov«s defense attorneys were Maxim Mikhailov, Alexander Pochuev, and Leonid Kharitonov, while the interests of the victims (the deceased girl»s family) were represented by Andrei Morozov.
At around 21:00, Daniyal Shikhtaimov hit a 13-year-old girl who was crossing the intersection of Rakhov and Vavilov streets against a red light. He was driving a white Lada Vesta with removed license plates, and experts concluded that the car«s speed was at least 61 km/h (38 mph). The girl died at the scene from her injuries. After the collision, the law academy student, without reducing speed, drove toward the embankment, where police arrested him. Shikhtaimov refused to undergo a medical examination.
The day after the accident, he was expelled from the Saratov State Law Academy. Investigators opened a criminal case against Shikhtaimov under clauses «a» and «b» of Part 4 of Article 264 of the Russian Criminal Code (traffic rules violation coupled with leaving the scene of an accident) and placed him in a pre-trial detention center. In court, Daniyal stated that the car had no license plates because the holder had supposedly become demagnetized.
The case drew the attention of the head of the Investigative Committee, Alexander Bastrykin, who stated that, in his opinion, the process was too drawn out. Before the verdict, the defendant«s lawyers asked for his acquittal, arguing that the girl had crossed the road against a red light, while the state prosecution requested 9 years of imprisonment for the accused. Judge Daria Bogdanova sentenced Shikhtaimov to 7.5 years in a standard colony and imposed a 2.5-year ban on working in jobs involving driving vehicles.
Daniyal Shikhtaimov is the son of the head of the Office of Assistants and Advisors to the Head of the Republic of Dagestan, Arslanbek Shikhtaimov. The young man enrolled in paid tuition for the specialty «law and social security organization» at the Saratov State Law Academy in August 2019, and then in 2021, he was admitted to the first year of commercial tuition for the specialty «jurisprudence».
Daniyal«s father, 56-year-old Arslanbek Shikhtaimov, has held the post of head of the Office of Assistants and Advisors to the Head of Dagestan since February 2021, and before that, he was an assistant prosecutor in the Kizlyar district of the republic. Shikhtaimov»s appointment occurred two days after Melikov«s visit to the Kizlyar district. Moreover, he is the first head of this structure, which was created in 2021.
The 2021 declaration (later, civil servants were allowed not to publish income and expenditure information) indicated a relatively modest income for an official of his level — 1.9 million rubles per year (approximately $21,100 at current rates). According to the public declaration, his wife and son earned nothing. The official has one apartment of 95 square meters (1,022 sq ft) in use and 42.6 square meters (458 sq ft) in ownership. His wife has a land plot of 318 square meters (3,422 sq ft) and a house of 117.7 square meters (1,266 sq ft) in use. According to the reports, the family also has no personal transport.
