Edgar Abukhba, a resident of Gudauta in Russian-occupied Abkhazia, who had reportedly been previously convicted of raping a Russian tourist and whose release had drawn Moscow’s concerns in 2024, has been detained over the suspected murder of Amina Bikbova, another Russian tourist, the region’s de facto “Interior Ministry” said on September 27.
According to the “ministry,” the suspect, 25, confessed to strangling the woman following an argument while alone with her in a rented apartment.
Bikbova’s disappearance was announced a day earlier, after her relatives contacted local law enforcement agencies, saying they had been unable to reach her for three days. The de facto ministry said that following the killing, Abukhba attempted to conceal the crime and drown Bikbova’s body, but ultimately hid it in bushes after failing to do so.
Reports in Russian media pointed out that the suspect’s identity matches that of a person convicted of assaulting and raping another Russian tourist in 2019.
According to Abkhaz media reports, in 2019, while still a minor, he allegedly led the victim to “a burned complex of government buildings,” where he hit her on the head with his fists and stones “and with particular cruelty, raped her and committed other acts of a sexual nature.” In 2021, Abukhba was sentenced to nine years in a maximum-security penal colony.
Abukhba was reportedly released in 2024 after serving 4.5 years. The Russian Foreign Ministry said at the time that it was “extremely surprised” that his sentence had been reduced by Abkhazia’s de facto “supreme court,” arguing that the “high-profile case suggests a lenient approach to crimes” and sentences in the region.
“It is clear that this creates risks for the security of the large number of foreign guests who visit the Abkhazian resorts every year, and we feel compelled to warn our compatriots about this,” the Russian MFA said in a February 16, 2024 statement.
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