23:50, 12 November 2019

Court upholds verdict to Ingush residents in case on plotting of terror act

Defendants in a case on plotting of terror acts at the French Embassy in Moscow (from left to right): Salamkhan Sampiev, Ruslan Esmurziev, Khusein Kitiev, Magomed Amatkhanov, and Elbert Kharsiev. Photo by Konstantin Volgin for the "Caucasian Knot"

The Supreme Court (SC) of the Russian Federation dismissed complaints filed by five residents of Ingushetia, sentenced to long terms of imprisonment in a case on plotting of terror acts at the French Embassy in Moscow in 2017.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that on February 28, the North-Caucasian District Military Court found Ingush residents Salamkhan Sampiev, Ruslan Esmurziev, Khusein Kitiev, Magomed Amatkhanov, and Elbert Kharsiev guilty of plotting terror acts at the French Embassy in Moscow and sentenced them to 12-20 years of imprisonment. The defence found the guilt of the defendants unproven and the verdict unfounded.

On November 15, 2016, the Russian FSB reported about the detention of five persons suspected of plotting terror acts in Ingushetia and Moscow. Investigators accused the suspects of involvement in the "Islamic State" (IS), a terrorist organization banned in Russia by the court. The defendants claimed that they had made confessions under torture, but the court refused to investigate their complaints.

According to public prosecutors, five defendants were involved in terrorist crimes by Zubairi Sautiev, who stayed in Syria and carried out a mission of the "Islamic State" by creating an organized grouping of militants in Ingushetia. After his return to Ingushetia, Zubairi Sautiev was killed in a special operation in a suburb of Nazran on October 7, 2016.

This article was originally published on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’ on November 12, 2019 at 07:09 pm MSK. To access the full text of the article, click here.

Author: Konstantin Volgin

Source: CK correspondent