Resident of Karabudakhkent Tata Lezhbedinov confesses of aiding militants

In Dagestan, Tata Lezhbedinov, a 56-year-old Karabudakhkent, accused of aiding members of illegal armed formations (IAFs), has admitted his guilt. According to his advocate, his assistance was in providing shelter to armed persons in 2011 at the request of one of his relatives.

"His aiding was in the fact that he fulfilled a request of his cousin, who brought to him two men and asked to nourish them and take for the night. My client did not reject his cousin's request," said the advocate Isamudin Magaramov.

He expressed his hope that the court will take into account all the circumstances of the case and that is not a custom in Dagestan to deny a relative's and guest's request.

Judging by the list of persons who are wanted as IAF members, in Dagestan, not only young people join the armed underground. For example, most of the members of the "Gimry" terrorist grouping were born in the 1970s.

"In my opinion, the reasons for joining the underground may be ideological (one's own interpretation of religion), or one's personal tragedy (a revenge for the murder of a close relative), or a combination of circumstances caused by corruption, authorities' arbitrariness and unemployment," said Magomed Magomedov, an observer of the "Chernovik" newspaper.

Full text of the article is available on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’.