Direct Translation via Google Translate. Edited.
[KavkazUzel] Dagestan natives Abas Saidov and Zamur Tagirov were sentenced to 19 years in prison for creating a terrorist group. The witnesses whose testimony was used to build the case said they gave it under pressure. The defense appealed the verdict.
A message that the case against Dagestani residents Abas Saidov and Zamur Tagirov was based on testimony obtained through pressure and torture of the detainees was received in the feedback bot of the "Caucasian Knot" in Telegram. "The lawyers of the convicted are seeking a review of the case," the message says.
Residents of Dagestan Abas Saidov and Zamur Tagirov were convicted on March 26, 2025 under articles on the creation of a terrorist community (part 1 of article 205.4), incitement and recruitment into a terrorist community (part 1 of article 205.1), organization of an illegal armed formation (part 1 of article 208) and illegal arms trafficking (part 4 of article 222 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation), reported lawyer Abdulla Gaziev, representing the interests of Zamur Tagirov.
During the investigation and trial, Tagirov stated that he had been tortured, but during the debate they completely denied guilt.
"They were sentenced to 19 years of imprisonment each. On June 2, they will have been in prison for three years and four months. During the investigation and trial, Tagirov stated that he had been tortured, but during the debate they completely denied their guilt," he told a "Caucasian Knot" correspondent.
At the same time, according to the lawyer, during the preliminary investigation Tagirov was forced to partially admit guilt; according to him, his client was misled by the lawyers who initially defended him. "But at the court hearing he refused this. The Southern District Military Court in Rostov-on-Don added part 2 of article 205, note 4. That is, participation in the same . This is illegal. The court has no right to add, only to subtract articles of the charge," Gaziyev explained.
He also reported that Saidov was born in 2001, Tagirov was born in 2003. "Both worked before their arrest. Abbas, I think, worked in a cafe. They don't have wives or children," Gaziyev noted.
The testimony of two girls confirmed the prosecution's version.
"They claim that they had previously known each other, that they 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 closed," Gaziyev said.
Currently, the girls are refusing to testify and asking law enforcement agencies to sort out the situation and hold the security forces accountable, Gaziyev said.
The "Caucasian Knot" has copies of statements sent on May 16 to the Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation, the FSB, the Prosecutor General's Office and the Office of the Human Rights Commissioner about violations of their rights and threats from security forces to obtain the "necessary" testimony.
The whole conversation came down to us giving testimony that Tagirov and Saidov created a terrorist community on the territory of Dagestan, which I first heard about from an operative officer.
In particular, Isabella Israfilova reported that security forces intimidated her and her sister Asiyat Batyrova with physical violence.
"The whole conversation came down to us giving testimony that Tagirov and Saidov created a terrorist community on the territory of Dagestan, which I first heard about from an operative officer <...>. In exchange, as was said, neither we nor our relatives will suffer physically," Israfilova said.
According to her, she was “rudely told that she would not be held accountable for a particularly serious crime.”
"Caucasian Knot" was unable to contact Asiyat Batyrova and Izabella Israfilova. The girls did not have lawyers.
THEY BEAT US: IN THE FACE, IN THE HEAD, IN THE GROIN - ESPECIALLY HARD.
Another witness in the Saidov and Tagirov case, Ingushetia native Adam Maloroev, stated that he and another witness in the case were tortured in a security agency department in Ingushetia in order to obtain the desired testimony. "They kept us under torture for several days. I was wearing a sack, I couldn't see anything. My hands were tied behind my back, my legs were taped to the legs of a chair. 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. They forced me to incriminate myself: to say that I was interested in the war in Syria or Chechnya,
| …implying ISIS? Al Qaeda? |
ISIS has been a problem with their recruiting from the southern Russian and CIS republics for years.
that I was going to go to jihad, that I knew these guys. They connected electricity to me - they attached wires to my ears, hit me with a stun gun below the waist and on my body. They kept the electricity on until I "confessed" what they needed," follows from a video that Tumso Abdurakhmanov published on his Telegram channel.
Maloroev said that he left Russia to avoid testifying against Tagirov and Saidov.
On the website of the Southern District Court, in the case file of Tagirov (the name of the second defendant is hidden), it is indicated that the lawyers of both defendants have appealed the verdict. The prosecution has until May 30 to file objections to the appeals.
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