Direct Translation via Google Translate. Edited.
[KavkazUzel] The case against Abdulmumin Gazhdiev,
| …a typo, intended to be Abdulmumin Gadzhiev, also spelt Abdulmumin Hajiyev, he’s the editor of the Chernovik newspaper. Along with Abubakar Rizvanov, head of the Ansar charity fund and Kemal Tambiev he was convicted of financing terrorism — collecting 68 million rubles and 200 thousand dollars for ISIS under the pretext of building mosques and helping poor Muslims. Israil Akhmednabiev (Abu Umar Sasitlinsky), a Dagestan preacher and founder of the Mukhadzhirun Islamic Foundation, had suggested they join forces for the work... |
Abubakar Rizvanov and Kemal Tambiev is politically motivated, human rights activists said. They recognized Rizvanov and Tambiev as political prisoners, demanding that the criminal prosecution of those convicted on charges of financing terrorism be stopped and that they be released, as well as an investigation into the torture of Kemal Tambiev.
As the "Caucasian Knot" wrote, one of the three judges who passed sentence in the case of "Chernovik" journalist Abdulmumin Gadzhiev, head of the "Ansar" foundation Abubakar Rizvanov and businessman Kemal Tambiev, Rizvan Zubairov, in his dissenting opinion criticized the grounds for the guilty verdict and, in fact, acquitted the journalist. Gadzhiev’s relatives expressed hope that the appellate court would take into account the defense’s arguments and the judge’s dissenting opinion.
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The editor of the Chernovik newspaper, Abdulmumin Gadzhiev, is in a pre-trial detention center in Novocherkassk. An appeal against the verdict was filed back in September 2023. In April, it became known that Gadzhiev, Tambiev and Rizvanov had finished studying the case materials and minutes of meetings before considering the appeal. A date for consideration has not yet been set, Gadzhiev’s lawyer said on May 6.
The editor of the Chernovik newspaper, Abdulmumin Gadzhiev, as well as the head of the Ansar charitable foundation, Abubakar Rizvanov, and businessman Kemal Tambiev, were arrested in June 2019 on charges of financing terrorism. On September 12, the court sentenced Gadzhiev to 17 years in prison, Rizvanov to 18 years, and Kemal Tambiev to 17.5 years. The prosecution did not present convincing evidence in court, the defendants said in their final plea. Human rights activists consider Gadzhiev’s case a threat to all journalists in Russia ; he is recognized as a political prisoner. Details of the case are collected in the Caucasian Knot material “Golunov number two”: the main thing about the case of Abdulmumin Gadzhiev.”
The independent human rights project "Support for Political Prisoners. Memorial" recognized Abubakar Rizvanov and Kemal Tambiev as political prisoners.
Human rights activists noted that they agree with the arguments specified in the dissenting opinion of Judge Zubairov. “Having studied the materials of the criminal case, the verdict and the dissenting opinion of judge Rizvan Zubairov, we have come to the conclusion that the guilt of all three convicts has not been proven. We fully agree with the dissenting opinion of Zubairov. According to the lawyer of the Memorial Human Rights Protection Center, which we join, in it reflects a combination of legal literacy, professionalism and conscience in assessing evidence. The content of the dissenting opinion is similar to the text of a legally competent and motivated acquittal,” the message states.
Human rights activists noted that Zubairov, in his dissenting opinion, indicated that the investigation did not provide reliable evidence of the guilt of either Abdulmumin Gadzhiev, Kemal Tambiev, or Abubakar Rizvanov, and the facts contradict the conclusions of the investigation and the prosecution.
“State propaganda uses and aggravates everyday Islamophobia, merges Islam and terrorism in the minds of the average person. Civil control over this kind of persecution is minimal, intelligence services are able to repeatedly inflate detection rates (their own usefulness), manipulate ideas about the terrorist threat, and replace the real anti-terrorist fight with a simulation one.”
Solving" serial cases of terrorist financing is now extremely simplified; achieving "high results" (dozens of arrests and convictions) requires minimal effort. At the same time, in recent years, it is anti-terrorist considerations that explain the adoption of laws restricting the constitutional rights of citizens. Thus, imitation the fight against terrorism works to strengthen the powers of government subjects,” human rights activists pointed out.
They emphasized that The tradition of planning indicators in law enforcement agencies, with the threat of an inevitable reduction in staff and allocations if the plan is not fulfilled, pushes towards an active search, and often to the fabrication of new solved cases, even if there are no signs of a crime in them. “Perhaps this is another reason for the emergence of so many cases of “terrorism financing,” a message on the project’s website states.
Human rights activists emphasized that Georgy Guev, who was also recognized as a political prisoner, was previously convicted “for allegedly collecting funds for the Abu Umar Sasitlinsky foundation.”
Georgy Guev has been under arrest since May 2019 on charges of financing terrorism. On November 20, 2020, the Second Western District Military Court of Moscow sentenced him to six years in a general regime colony; in June 2021, the Judicial Collegium of the Military Court of Moscow upheld the sentence. The investigation believes that from 2015 to 2019, Guev collected money on his bank card for militants of the Islamic State terrorist organization as well as for the founder of the Islamic foundation "Muhajirun" Israil Akhmednabiev (Abu Umar Sasitlinsky - a famous Dagestan preacher), wanted in a terrorism case.
At first, 50 million rubles were involved in the case; only the amount of 7,201 rubles reached the indictment. Guev denies guilt, saying that he made only a few transfers to the Living Heart charity foundation, which deals with the problem of drinking water shortages in African countries.
The independent human rights project "Support for Political Prisoners. Memorial" finds that the criminal case against Abdulmumin Gadzhiev, Abubakar Rizvanov and Kemal Tambiev is politically motivated, aimed at consolidating and maintaining power by subjects of power. Deprivation of liberty was applied to them in violation of the rights to a fair trial, freedom of expression and dissemination of information (in relation to the professional activities of journalist Abdulmumin Gadzhiev), freedom of conscience and religion guaranteed by the Constitution of the Russian Federation, the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the European Convention on the Protection of human rights and fundamental freedoms,” the message stated.
The independent human rights project " Support for Political Prisoners. Memorial " considers Abdulmumin Gadzhiev, Abubakar Rizvanov and Kemal Tambiev to be political prisoners and demands the reversal of their sentence, immediate release, termination of criminal prosecution, as well as an investigation into reports of torture of Kemal Tambiev.
Abdulmumin Gadzhiev’s colleagues consider his criminal case to be political persecution and regularly hold single pickets in his support in Makhachkala. On May 13, such a picket was held at the traditional place (the intersection of Dakhadayev Street and Gamzatov Avenue) by the deputy chief editor of Chernovik, Magomed Magomedov.
According to colleagues, Gadzhiev is suffering because the newspaper voiced “inconvenient questions” to the authorities and security forces, according to the Caucasian Knot report “Draft”: threats, criminal cases, murder of the editor-in-chief.”
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