13:14, 26 June 2019

Timur Tumgoev sentenced to 18 years

Barbed wire at high security facility. Photo by Nina Tumanova for the Caucasian Knot

Today, the North-Caucasian District Military Court in Rostov-on-Don has found Timur Tumgoev, a native of Vladikavkaz, to be a member of a group of Syrian militants and sentenced him to 18 years in a high-security colony.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that the prosecutor demanded to imprison Tumgoev for 19 years. His defence, in its turn, has stated that Tumgoev's guilt was not proved and asked to acquit him. The defendant himself, in his last plea, called the accusation unfair; however, he expressed his readiness to go to the colony "by the will of Allah."

According to investigators, in October 2014, Timur Tumgoev went to Georgia, then to Turkey, and from there to Syria, where he joined the militants of the grouping "Djeish al-Muhajirin Wal-Ansar", treated by the prosecution as a be part of the "Islamic State" (IS), a terrorist organization banned in Russia by the court. Timur Tumgoev himself has admitted only the fact of his stay in Turkey. Tumgoev was detained in June 2016 at Kharkov Airport, where he had flown from Turkey. In September 2018, Tumgoev was extradited from Ukraine to Russia at the request of the Russia's FSB.

Today, the North-Caucasian District Military Court in Rostov-on-Don has sentenced Timur Tumgoev to 18 years in a high-security colony.

Let us remind you that on June 7, at the court session, only one out of four witnesses confirmed the his earlier testimony against Timur Tumgoev. The second witness stated that that he had slandered Tumgoev under pressure; the third one referred to his poor memory; while the fourth witness failed to identify Tumgoev.

This article was originally published on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’ on June 26, 2019 at 11:25 am MSK. To access the full text of the article, click here.

Author: Konstantin Volgin

Source: CK correspondent