Advocates report on frauds in case of planned terror act in Moscow

The weapons were planted to defendants, the witnesses' testimonies were fabricated, and the accusations of extremism are unfounded. This was reported by advocates of the defendants, accused of plotting a terror act at the "Kirgizia" cinema.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that on November 26 and 27, 2013, 15 people were detained in Moscow, including natives of Dagestan, Chechnya, Ingushetia, and Kalmykia.

On April 18, Illarion Vasiliev, an advocate of Tazhib Makhmudov, accused of creating and leading a criminal grouping, reported to the court on the ammunition planted during the search.

The weapons and ammunition found during a search in an apartment in Natasha Kachuevskaya Street at night of November 27, 2013, had also been planted. This was claimed by Dmitry Kreines, an advocate of Tagir Akhtakhanov. According to the advocate, the search took place without advocates and with numerous violations.

Furthermore, no finger prints of the defendants were detected on the tape, which was wrapped around explosives, and no glove were not found during the search.

According to Anar Mamedov, an advocate of Inyal and Nurmagomed Balakadashev, the testimonies, given by a number of prosecution witnesses, "look like being deliberately fabricated."

Advocate Illarion Vasiliev has added that the international organization "Al-Takfir wal-Hijra", mentioned in the case, was recognized by the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation as extremist; however, there is no information about terrorist acts committed on its behalf.

There are doubts about the very existence of the grouping, notes Vitaly Ponomaryov, an expert on Islamic extremism and a member of the Board of the Human Rights Centre (HRC) "Memorial".

According to Vitaly Ponomaryov, the information about organization "Al-Takfir wal-Hijra" is based on sources of the secret services, the accuracy of which is unclear.

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