Dagestani woman who returned from Syria sentenced to eight years

The Kaspiysk City Court has found a militant's widow guilty of working for terrorists in Syria. Her imprisonment is postponed by twelve years, until the youngest of her five children matures.

According to the verdict, in 2014, Elmira Amirkhanova, with her husband and four children, joined the Syrian militants; she cooked, made laundry and repaired clothes for them, and also ran a household plot. Becoming widow, she left Syria for Turkey in early 2019, and then came to Russia. Law enforcers detained her immediately upon her arrival at the Grozny Airport.

Amirkhanova has pled guilty, but stated that her husband forced her to go to Syria and join militants. She repented and asked not to deprive her of freedom, since she has five children, the youngest of whom is a breastfed baby.

On May 16, the above court sentenced Amirkhanova to eight years in a general regime colony under the article on participation in an illegal armed formation (IAF), says the court's website.

All the 12 years, for which the woman will wait for her imprisonment, she is obliged to appear monthly at the police; without their permit, she is forbidden to travel outside the city, the "Kommersant" has informed today.

This article was originally published on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’ on June 29, 2019 at 12:48 pm MSK. To access the full text of the article, click here.