15:31, 24 May 2016

Court leaves Karaulova in custody until July 27

Alexandra Ivanova (Varvara Karaulova). Photo: RFE/RL

Today, the Lefortovo Court of Moscow has extended by two months the arrest of the student Alexandra Ivanova (Varvara Karaulova), accused of trying to join the banned terrorist organization "Islamic State" (IS).

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that on October 28, 2015, Karaulova was arrested by a Moscow court. On November 10, 2015, she pled guilty, but later abandoned her confession.

On June 4, 2015, Varvara Karaulova was detained at the Turkish-Syrian border among a group of Russians, who, according to investigators, had intended to join the IS, banned in Russia and recognized as a terrorist organization.

Today, at the sitting of the Lefortovo Court of Moscow, the advocate Sergey Badamshin has presented the appeal of Lyudmila Alexeeva, the head of the Moscow Helsinki Group (MHG), and of two members of the MHG – the Academician of the Russian Academy of Sciences (RAS) Yuri Ryzhov and rights defender Ernst Chorny, who asked to release Karaulova from jail under their personal guarantees.

According to the authors of the above appeals, Alexandra Ivanova is "a very talented and dedicated person," she speaks five foreign languages and is now trying to learn the sixth one; when being out of jail, she could continue her studies at the university, to teach foreign languages for free and participate in volunteer activities.

The court dismissed the defence's motion to release Karaulova under the guarantees of the MHG members, without mentioning it in its judgement, the "Interfax" reports.

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