14:31, 5 October 2016

Varvara Karaulova refuses to plead guilty

The Moscow District Military Court has started to consider on the merits the case against Alexandra Ivanova (Varvara Karaulova). The defendant pleaded not guilty.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that on September 22, the Moscow District Military Court scheduled for today the first court hearing in the case against Alexandra Ivanova (Varvara Karaulova). Meanwhile, the Court upheld the expansion of the Alexandra Ivanova's detention.

On June 4, 2015, Varvara Karaulova, a student of the Moscow State University (MSU), was detained at the Turkish-Syrian border together with other Russian citizens, including natives of Chechnya and Dagestan, and citizens of Azerbaijan. According to investigators, they were going to join the "Islamic State" (IS), a terrorist organization banned in Russia. After the criminal case had received wide response, Varvara Karaulova changed her name and became Alexandra Ivanova.

According to the indictment, read out by public prosecutor, the defendant used the Internet messenger "to contact an unidentified man to join one of the units, led by Abdul Khakin." Then, she flew from Moscow to Istanbul, where she was transferred to a conspirative apartment in the city of Kiriz.

Investigators suggest that Varvara Karaulova tried to join the "Badr" grouping, which was an IS unit, "to carry out subversive activities in Syria and Europe by suicide bombing."

The prosecutor has noted that the student had combat training skills and knew foreign languages.

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

Author: Yuliya Buslavskaya

Source: CK correspondent