23:57, 7 February 2019

Court softens punishment for Chechen resident for attempting to join Syrian militants

War in Syria. Photo: REUTERS/Marko Djurica

The Supreme Court (SC) of Chechnya took into account the time that a local resident spent at the SIZO (pre-trial prison) and reduced by six months his sentence for trying to join militants in Syria, the Prosecutor's Office reported.

The court found that in the period from summer 2017 to February 2018, Adam Mikailov, a resident of the Gudermes District, several times tried to go to Syria to join a terrorist organization.

The court did not include in the sentence the six months during which Adam Mikailov, who was detained in February 2018, was kept at the SIZO before the sentence was pronounced. Finally, the Chechen SC reduced the sentence from three to 2.5 years.

Let us remind you that in January, the Chechen law enforcement bodies reported their success in the prevention of extremism. According to their information, in 2018, no residents of Chechnya joined Syrian militants, although 15 people tried to do that. Local residents confirmed that the authorities were engaged in preventive activities, but questioned their effectiveness.

This article was originally published on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’ on February 7, 2019 at 04:45 pm MSK. To access the full text of the article, click here.

Source: CK correspondent