Supreme Court of Ingushetia sentences Khamkhoev - figurant in "Domodedovo" terror act case - to 9 years in colony

A resident of Ingushetia, a 19-year-old Bashir Khamkhoev, who is a figurant in the criminal case of the terror act committed at the Moscow "Domodedovo" Airport, was sentenced to nine years in prison for a number of crimes committed in the territory of his republic. The defendant refused to plead guilty, while his advocate reports that his client was pressed on by investigators.

Let us remind you that Khamkhoev's trial began at the Supreme Court of Ingushetia on October 26, 2011. According to official data, the defendant is one of the leaders of the armed underground of the Sunzha District of Ingushetia.

Khamkhoev was accused of an attack on a law enforcer, illegal arms trafficking, creation and command of an illegal armed formation (IAF), tempting people to terrorist crimes and intentional destruction of one's property.

According to investigators, in May 2010 Khamkhoev left home and joined an IAF, engaged in forcing people to commit crimes and terror acts. In total, Bashir Khamkhoev was sentenced to 9 years of high security colony, the ITAR-TASS reports.

"On February 2, 2011, Khamkhoev was detained by law enforcers in the Sunzha District of Ingushetia as a participant of a road accident. After the accident he was hospitalized, a submachine gun and ammunition were found in his car. Then, it became known that he had been on the search list in connection with the 'Domodedovo' terror act," said Vladimir Markin, the official spokesman of the Investigatory Committee of the Russian Federation (ICRF), as quoted by the "Vesti.Ru".

The prosecution referred to evidences of several people, available in the case files, including those of a certain Khashimov, who had been also accused of involvement in IAFs, but was acquitted by a jury. At the trial, Khashimov abandoned his initial evidence, saying that he knew Khamkhoev as his fellow villager only.

As a result, the assistant prosecutor of the republic asked the court to sentence Khamkhoev to 15 years in prison.

The defendant, who made his last plea, said he had not committed the incriminated crimes and asked the court for leniency.

The lawyer Magomed Tsurov, Khamkhoev's advocate, believes that there are no real proofs that his client is a fighter who had created an IAF and commanded it. According to the lawyer, his client's confessions had been obtained under pressure. "My client later recanted, saying that investigators forced him to bespeak himself," said the lawyer, as quoted by the newspaper "Kommersant".