Hafiz Razzakov

Hafiz Hamzayevich Razzakov (; born 5 September 1975), known as The Borovets Maniac , is an Uzbekistani-born Russian terrorist and serial killer who murdered nine people in the city of Naberezhnye Chelny from June to October 2004. Razzakov, a member of an extremist Islamist organization named Islamic Djamaat , targeted victims he considered to be infidels.

Razzakov would later be arrested for the murders, tried and successfully convicted, receiving a life sentence.

Early life Little is known about Razzakov's early life. Born on 5 September 1975 in Ziyovuddin, Samarkand Region in the Uzbek SSR, he had two brothers and grew up in a stable household. In the early 1990s, following the dissolution of the USSR, Razzakov's family moved to Bryansk. Having obtained Russian citizenship, he was drafted into the Russian Armed Forces in 1993, and after serving two years, he returned to Bryansk and got a job at the patrol and checkpoint service.

In 1997, Hafiz, together with his older brother Haidar, moved to the city of Naberezhnye Chelny in Tatarstan, where he worked as a security guard for the Electrotechnical Department of Internal Affairs and later at the patrol and checkpoint service, but he quit after several months of internship.

However, Razzakov's brother Haidar denied these claims, saying that the "Kavkaz" training center was a simple religious institution and that Hafiz had gone there to study Islamic law because there were no other such places in Russia except in Chechnya. However, Hafiz allegedly went missing after being supposedly being wounded in combat, despite the First Chechen War having ended and the Second not having begun yet.

Terrorist activities In March 1999, Razzakov and three other men (Maxim Gaponov and brothers Ilkhom and Sherali Shukurov) from the "Kavkaz" training center received an assignment from al-Khattab to seize a hostage in Naberezhnye Chelny for ransom, as they needed money to fund their activities against the federal authorities. For two weeks, Geller was subjected to all kinds of abuse and systematic beatings, after which he was secretly transported to the town of Urus-Martan. Razzakov opened the door to the passenger seat and stabbed Belykh several times in the chest, after which he attacked Shakirov. During the attack, he stabbed Shakirov several times, but was fought off, allowing the victim to push him out of the car. Razzakov then pulled out a pistol at Shakirov at least six times through the window, killing him on the spot. Yevgeny Vdovin, the head of the Federal Security Service in Tatarstan, was dispatched to Naberezhnye Chelny to assist investigators, and warnings were issued for local residents not go into the forest. He also told them of his participation in the Islamic Djamaat, with a search of his apartment uncovering camouflaged clothing, homemade belts with the words shahid written on them, blueprints for explosive devices and two pistols.

Trial and sentence In November 2006, the investigation was completed and the 127-volume criminal case was sent to jury trial, which began in February 2007. At the request of his lawyers, Razzakov was transferred to the Serbsky Center to undergo a forensic medical examination for two months. He was diagnosed as completely sane and able to stand trial.

On 14 February 2008, the Supreme Court of the Republic of Tatarstan found Razzakov guilty on all counts and sentenced him to life imprisonment. Shortly before the verdict, he recanted his confessions and proclaimed that he was solely guilty of killing Sharipova, but this claim was disregarded.

Imprisonment and current status Following his conviction, Razzakov was transferred to serve his sentence at the Black Dolphin Prison. In July of that year, Hafiz was charged with terrorism and attempted murder-related offenses and transferred to stand trial in Naberezhnye Chelny.

On 14 April 2023, he was found guilty on all counts and sentenced to another life term, after which he was returned to the Black Dolphin Prison.