22:00, 15 October 2013

Taziev's verdict is too severe, his advocate asserts

The defence of Ali Taziev, also known as Magas, who has been sentenced today to life imprisonment, believes that the verdict is too severe and intends to appeal against it.

Today, the North-Caucasian District Military Court in Rostov-on-Don has found Taziev guilty of organizing the terror act in Nevinnomyssk on December 9, 2007, a bomb explosion in front of the police department in Ingushetia on August 17, 2009, and attempt on the head of Ingushetia Yunus-Bek Evkurov on June 22, 2009.

"The defence is unhappy with the verdict and will challenge it," Sergey Loginov, one of Taziev's advocates, said after the trial, adding that the sentence was based on the Taziev's testimony that he had given at the preliminary investigation; however, he overturned the testimony at the trial.

"The prosecution has failed to present any direct evidence of living people and witnesses, who would have confirmed Taziev's involvement in the incriminated crimes," The RAPSI (Russian Agency for Legal and Judicial Information) quotes the advocate as saying.