20:32, 29 February 2024

Arrest of Leila Gatagazheva, young mother from Ingushetia, extended

Leyla Gatagazheva (on the right). Screenshot of a video by the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Russian Federation

A court in Malgobek has left Leila Gatagazheva, accused of links with Syrian militants, in custody until March 31.

Gatagazheva will stay in custody until at least March 31, the "Memorial" Centre for Human Rights Defence has informed on its website.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that on December 29, 2023, the Malgobek City Court changed Gatagazheva's freedom restriction measure from custody to house arrest for two months. But on February 1, the court, at the prosecutor's insistence, placed Gatagazheva back into the SIZO (pre-trial prison). Investigators have excluded the charge of complicity in terrorist activities from the indictment, but Gatagazheva remains at the SIZO despite her advocates' arguments, human rights defenders have reported.

Leila Gatagazheva is a mother of two children; she was accused of aiding terrorist activities and participating in an illegal armed formation (IAF) in Syria. Leila's mother took her from Ingushetia to Syria and married her when she was 13 years old. She has already served five years in an Iraqi prison on a similar charge of working for militants of the "Islamic State"*.

*On December 29, 2014, the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation recognized the organization "Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant" (ISIL or IS) as a terrorist international organization and banned its activities in Russia.

This article was originally published on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’ on February 29, 2024 at 05:33 pm MSK. To access the full text of the article, click here.

Source: Caucasian Knot