Resident of Grozny Said Mazhaev released after reconsideration of his case

The Supreme Court (SC) of Chechnya has reconsidered the verdict to Said Mazhaev, who was convicted for participation in the war in Syria, and reduced his prison term from two years down to eight months, which he has already served in the SIZO (pre-trial prison).

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that on November 10, 2014, the Zavodskoy District Court of Grozny sentenced Said Mazhaev to two years in prison. According to his relatives, Mazhaev went to Syria in November 2013 and was with local militants until January 14, 2014, after which he returned to Chechnya, as he got disappointed in his views on Syrian events.

His retrial was held on February 10, but Mazhaev was released from the Grozny SIZO only yesterday, on February 20, one of his relatives told the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent.

"His term was reduced from two years down to eight months, which he has already spent at the SIZO. Also, his one-year conditional punishment was lifted. At the retrial, the SC took into account the fact that he had voluntarily surrendered and some other circumstances of his case, which was not done earlier by the Zavodskoy District Court," said the source.

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