Natives of Northern Caucasus to face trial on charge of plotting terror act

Today, the Moscow City Court starts the trial in the case against 15 natives of Northern Caucasus, accused of plotting a terror act to be committed by a suicide bomber at a Moscow cinema on the eve of New Year 2014.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that the Russian Ministry of Internal Affairs (MIA) has completed the investigation into the above criminal case in April 2015.

According to investigators, the defendants were plotting a terror act to be committed at the Moscow cinema "Kyrgyzia" during one of the New Year festive events. The terror act was to be committed by a suicide bomber, whose role was assigned to former Moscow resident Arthur Maslakov, who converted to Islam. According to investigators, the other defendants were to manufacture improvised explosive devices (IEDs) and to guard the suicide bomber. According to the forensic examinations, signs of explosives were found on hands and clothes of all the defendants.

All 15 defendants plead not guilty, the "Kommersant" reports with reference to advocates. The defence questions the conclusions of the forensic examination, provided by the law enforcers.

According to the defence, the charge is mostly built on the testimonies of secret witnesses, some of whom claim that long before their detention, the persons involved in the case were talking about their relations with militants from Ingushetia and Dagestan.

The prisoners' dock contain natives of Chechnya and Dagestan, and, according to the investigators, all of them are members of the Russian unit of the international organization "Al Takfir wal-Hijra", recognized in Russia as extremist.

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