Neutralization of the Opposition

On 29 January 1841 general Golovin, commander of the Separate Caucasus Corps (head of the empire's troops and administration in the Caucasus), instructed general Grabbe, commander of the troops of the Caucasus Line (the chain of imperial fortifications on the land of the Nokhchi), to organise the assassination of Akhverdy-Magoma, Shamil's naib in Lesser Chechnya (the deputy of the imam, leader of the resistance of the highlanders of Dagestan and Chechnya to the Russian conquest): "it may be supposed that for good pay men will be found who will resolve on the destruction of Akhverdy-Magoma. There is no doubt that through the elimination of this enterprising associate of Shamil we would rid ourselves of one of his most dangerous instruments, and the pacification of Chechnya would then be a far less difficult matter"^[1]. Golovin allotted a budget and an executor: Grabbe was granted "the right to employ at your discretion up to two thousand rubles in silver from the extraordinary sums", and "the execution of this affair is most fittingly to be laid upon maj.-gen. Olshevsky", commander of the left flank of the line^[1]. The death of Akhverdy-Magoma is not connected with this order: in the summer of 1843 he died in a fight near the village of Shatili on the border with Georgia - historians Ya. Z. Akhmadov and E. Kh. Khasmagomadov write: "To the satisfaction of the Russian command, Akhverdy-Magoma perished in the summer of 1843 in a clash near the Khevsur village of Shatili"^[2]. Participants of the resistance the empire handed over to military courts with expedited punishment. The commands of emperor Nicholas I of 29 December 1843 and 14 February 1844, conveyed to the troops on 24 May 1844, prescribed: "Officers from among the highlanders who took part in the revolt, as well as qadis and other chief instigators, are to be handed over to a military court under the field criminal code... The sentences of the court, upon final confirmation by me, are to be carried out without delay" (qadi - a Muslim judge)^[1]. Under this norm it was not enemy soldiers who went before the field court-martial, but spiritual and communal leaders - "qadis and other chief instigators".