Defence: terrorism financing case against Dagestani native far-fetched

In Moscow, a court extended the arrest of Alikhan Adjamatov, a native of Dagestan, by six months. According to the defence, the case is based on the fact that the counterparties, with whom Alikhan Adjamatov had business contacts, had indirect ties with persons convicted in terrorist cases.

The “Caucasian Knot” has reported that in September 2020, blogger Roman Babaev claimed that he was forced to testify in the case against his acquaintance Alikhan Adjamatov, accused of assisting terrorist activities. Roman Babaev was detained in Moscow, where he flew as a defence witness.

The special services prefer not to quarrel with persons affiliated with a media resource, so the actions of the law enforcers with regard to Roman Babaev are most likely the initiative of non-professional employees, journalist Maxim Shevchenko suggests.

According to the investigators’ version, Alikhan Adjamatov contacted an emissary of the “Islamic State” (IS, a terrorist organization, banned in Russia by the court, – note of the “Caucasian Knot”) and provided him with the details of the bank cards and then raised more than 237,000 roubles from various persons to the above accounts, “being aware that they were intended to finance the terrorist organization.”

According to advocate Umalat Saigitov, the charges are far-fetched, and the rights of his client were violated during the investigation.

“Alikhan Adjamatov is a doctor by profession. He was offered a business: to sell drugs for hepatitis C, imported from Egypt. The drugs are cheap, while their Russian analogues are much more expensive ... Now Alikhan Adjamatov is charged that those funds were intended to finance terrorism,” the advocate said.