Defence treats the terrorism case against two residents of Dagestan as falsified

Abas Saidov and Zamur Tagirov, natives of Dagestan, have been sentenced to 19 years in jail within the case of creating a terrorist grouping. The witnesses, on whose testimonies the charges were based, stated that they had given their testimonies under pressure. The defence has appealed against the verdict.

The report that the case against Abas Saidov and Zamur Tagirov was based on the testimonies obtained through pressure and torture of the detainees was received by the feedback bot of the “Caucasian Knot” in the Telegram. "The convicts’ advocates are seeking a reconsideration of the case," the report says.

Abas Saidov and Zamur Tagirov, residents of Dagestan, were sentenced on March 26, 2025, under the articles on the creation of a terrorist community (Part 1 of Article 205.4), incitement and recruitment to a terrorist community (Part 1 of Article 205.1), the organization of an illegal armed formation (IAF) (Part 1 of Article 208) and illegal arms trafficking (Part 4 of Article 222 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation), said Abdulla Gaziev, Zamur Tagirov’s advocate.

During the investigation and trial, Tagirov stated that he had been tortured; and in the debates, they both completely denied their guilt.

"They were sentenced to 19 years of freedom deprivation each. On June 2, they will have been in custody for three years and four months. During the investigation and trial, Tagirov stated that he had been tortured; and in the debates, they completely denied their guilt," the advocate told the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent.

At the same time, according to the advocate Gaziev, during the preliminary investigation, Tagirov was forced to partially admit his guilt; according to the advocate, his client was misled by the advocate who had initially defended him. "But at the court hearing, he rejected his admittance. The Southern District Military Court in Rostov-on-Don has added Part 2 of Article 205, Note 4, that is, participation in the same <terrorist organization>. This is illegal. The court has no right to add, only to subtract articles of the charges," Mr Gaziev has explained, adding that Saidov was born in 2001, and Tagirov was born in 2003. "Both worked before their arrest. Abbas, in my opinion, worked in a cafe. They have no wives or children."

The testimonies of two girls confirmed the prosecution's version.

"They claimed that they had earlier known each other, and that they (the guys) had told them during conversations that they had created some kind of organization. The criminal case against them (the girls) for failure to report a terrorist crime was dismissed," Abdulla Gaziev has explained, adding that at present, the girls are refusing to testify and ask law enforcement bodies to look into the situation and hold the law enforcers involved accountable.

The "Caucasian Knot" has copies of the applications that were sent on May 16 to the Investigating Committee of the Russian Federation (ICRF), the FSB, the General Prosecutor's Office (GPO) and the Office of the Russian Ombudsperson about the violations of the girls’ rights and received threats from law enforcers aimed to obtain the "necessary" testimonies.

The whole conversation came down to us giving testimonies that Tagirov and Saidov had created a terrorist community in the territory of Dagestan, which I first heard about from an operative officer

In particular, Izabella Israfilova has reported that law enforcers had intimidated her and her sister, Asiyat Batyrova, with physical violence.

"The whole conversation came down to us giving testimonies that Tagirov and Saidov had created a terrorist community in the territory of Dagestan, which I first heard about from an operative officer <...>. In exchange, as he said, "neither we, nor our relatives would suffer physically," Israfilova has claimed.

According to her story, she was "rudely told that <if she gives the necessary testimony> she will not be held accountable for a particularly grave crime."

The "Caucasian Knot" was unable to contact Asiyat Batyrova and Izabella Israfilova. The girls had no advocates.

They beat us in the face, in the head, in the groin – especially hard

Another witness in the case, Adam Maloroev, a native of Ingushetia, stated that he and another witness in the case were tortured at some power agency in Ingushetia to extract the necessary testimonies. "We were held for several days under torture. They put a bag over my head, I couldn’t see anything. My hands were tied behind my back; my legs were taped to the chair legs. They beat us in the face, in the head, in the groin – especially hard. They beat us so hard that blood came out of my mouth. I was forced to incriminate myself: to say that I was interested in the war in Syria or Chechnya, that I was going to join jihad, that I knew these guys. They connected electricity to me – they attached wires to my ears, they hit me with a stun gun below the waist and on my body. They kept the current on me until I ‘confessed’ to what they needed,” follows from the video that Tumso Abdurakhmanov* posted in his Telegram channel.

Maloroev said that he had left Russia to avoid testifying against Tagirov and Saidov.

The website of the Southern District Military Court indicates, in Tagirov’s case card (the name of the second defendant is hidden), that both defendants’ advocates had appealed against the verdict.

This was originally published on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’ on May 29, 2025 at 07:53 pm MSK. To access the full text of the article, click here. 

*Included by the Russian Ministry of Justice (MoJ) into the register of foreign agents.