Public prosecutor proposes to mitigate sentences of Gadjiev, Tambiev, and Rizvanov

At trial, Dagestani journalist Abdulmumin Gadjiev claimed that the first instance court considered the purchase of airline tickets for 16,000 roubles as financing terrorism and completely ignored the findings of the forensic examination. A public prosecutor proposed to mitigate the sentences of the convicted persons without naming the proposed term of imprisonment.

The “Caucasian Knot” has reported that Abdulmumin Gadjiev, an editor of the Dagestani weekly newspaper “Chernovik” (Rough Draft), was kept at a SIZO (pre-trial prison) in Novocherkassk, awaiting consideration of the appeal against his sentence, filed back in September 2023. On October 11, the military court of appeal in the Moscow Region dismissed the defence’s motions at the first hearing. Abubakar Rizvanov pointed out multiple violations and inconsistencies in the verdict.

Abdulmumin Gadjiev claimed that the public prosecution had not proven his involvement in financing terrorism in principle. “Judging by the case materials, I am being declared guilty of supporting terrorism because in 2016, I bought airline tickets for 16,000 roubles: that fact is allegedly a transfer of money to terrorists,” the journalist noted.

Abdulmumin Gadjiev believes that the verdict is based on completely unfounded allegations and ignores the reasonable position of the defence. In particular, the editor of the newspaper “Chernovik” referred to the results of the linguistic and psychological examination, which stated that the publications did not incite violent actions, a separation of the Caucasian republics, or a call to create a terrorist state. Abdulmumin Gadjiev complained that the court had ignored and even distorted the results of the linguistic and psychological examination.

“I have never supported terrorist organizations, including the ISIS*,” Abubakar Rizvanov claimed.

Let us remind you that one of the three judges who pronounced the verdict voiced his dissenting opinion, in which he criticized the grounds for the guilty verdict and in fact acquitted Abdulmumin Gadjiev.

*On December 29, 2014, the Supreme Court (SC) 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.