14:16, 24 November 2015

Karaulova's advocate complains about non-admission to her

The defence and relatives of a Russian student Alexandra Ivanova (formerly, Varvara Karaulova), arrested on charges of attempting to join the "Islamic State" cannot see her in the SIZO (pre-trial prison), said her advocate Sergey Badamshin.

On June 4, Varvara Karaulova and Muslim Akhmaev, a resident of Chechnya, were detained at the Turkish-Syrian border in a group of 14 Russian citizens who, according to investigators, intended to join the terrorist organization "Islamic State" (IS), banned in Russia. After the case had caused high resonance, Varvara Karaulova changed her name and became Alexandra Ivanova.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that on October 28 a Moscow court arrested Varvara Karaulova; her defence then appealed against the court's judgement. On November 10, the student of the Moscow State University pleaded guilty; and the judge announced it at the trial.

Today, Sergey Badamshin has reported that he is not admitted to the SIZO to see his client.

"She wrote a petition on admission of two advocates. The investigator has satisfied them; now a trifle is left – to find the investigator and show him our IDs and orders, but he is hidden from us," the RIA "Novosti" quotes Badamshin as saying.

According to the advocate, he made several appearances at the investigation department of the Russia's FSB, which is running the student's case, "but every time the on duty officer told us that the investigator in question was not there, although we knew for sure that he was inside, conducting investigatory actions with our client."

Sergey Badamshin added that he had already filed a number of complaints against the investigator and SIZO staff. One of them – against employees of the FSIN (Russia's Penitentiary Service) – was rejected by the judge; now the advocate is going to appeal against the rejection.

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