MOSCOW, October 20 (RAPSI, Lyudmila Klenko) – Men who tried to cross the Syrian-Turkish border along with Varvara Karaulova (Alexandra Ivanova), who stands charged with attempting to join the Islamic State militants in Syria, have received prison sentences, RAPSI learned in the courtroom on Thursday.
During the hearings in the Moscow District Military Court it was revealed that these men were arrested on June 1, 2015 when they attempted to cross the border. A man with a surname of Akhmayev was sentenced to five years in a penal colony, and another man, Gorsultayev, was sentenced to three years in a settlement colony.
Karaulova confirmed that she knew one of the men because he had testified earlier.
On Tuesday, the prosecutor asked the court to partially declassify information falling under state secret category. According to the prosecutor, these documents contain testimony of a witness, a Federal Security Service’s officer, who earlier has testified under the pseudonym of Uraz Ramadanov. Later his name was revealed to be Alexander Poluektov.
The witness was giving testimony behind closed doors on the prosecutor’s request.
On Monday an acquaintance of Karaulova, Anfisa Khodgiyeva was questioned. The witness told the court that she had met Karaulova in Turkey. According to Khodgiyeva they met in an apartment where several people who wanted to illegally cross Turkish-Syrian border were transported to.
On October 5, the court began hearing of the case on the merits. The Moscow State University’s educators and the defendant’s group mates were questioned as well.
As previously reported the second-year student of the Moscow State University’s Faculty of Philosophy, allegedly decided to join the Islamic State, the organization banned in Russia, and secretly started off for Istanbul on May 27.
On June 4, she was arrested near Turkey's border with Syria along with 13 other Russian citizens when attempting to cross into the territory occupied by Islamic State militants. On June 11, she returned to Russia under escort of Interpol employees.
In October, Karaulova, who had changed her name to Alexandra Ivanova, was again arrested in Moscow and put in jail.
She has been found sane by the psychiatric evaluation.
The student did not plead guilty and stated that she was not going to become a terrorist.
The Islamic State, an organization which is prohibited in Russia, is currently one of the major threats to global security. Over three years, these terrorists have managed to seize large areas of Iraq and Syria. The organization is also attempting to spread its influence to North Africa – particularly, Libya. The area controlled by ISIS covers up to 90,000 square kilometers.
