Umakhanov's advocate appeal against verdict for recruitment to IS

When sentencing Shamil Umakhanov, the court has disregarded two mitigating circumstances, said Sergey Serdyukov, a defender. His colleague, an advocate of another figurant in the case – Sultan Yakhyaev – does not rule out that the defendants were exposed to pressure.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that Sultan Yakhyaev, Asad Musaev, Magomed Aliev, Shamil Umakhanov, Mukhamed Shamsutdinov, and Rasim Djalalov were charged under Articles "aiding and abetting in terrorist activities" and "illegal possession of weapons and ammunition" of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation. On December 1, the court sentenced them to 5-7 years of imprisonment.

"We've appealed against the verdict at the appellate instance. The state prosecutor asked five years of imprisonment for Umakhanov; the court, having presented no reasons, sentenced him to six years, disregarding the fact that Umakhanov has two mitigating circumstances, while the rest of the defendants have one such circumstance each. With this in mind, we believe that the verdict is not fair, and we'll ask the Supreme Court to commute it," Sergey Serdyukov told the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent.

He named the "active assistance to solving the crime" and "two young dependent children" as Umakhanov's mitigating circumstances, adding that the appeal was filed today, although the defence has not received the text of the verdict yet.

The advocates of Sultan Yakhyaev have also expressed their disagreement with the verdict. "There's flimsy evidence in the case. Both Umakhanov and Yakhyaev were exposed to pressure when at the SIZO (pre-trial prison)," one of Yakhyaev's advocates told the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent.

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