| Submit your comments on this article |
| Caucasus/Russia/Central Asia |
| Leila Gatagazheva remains in custody despite the reduced charges |
| 2024-02-09 |
| Direct Translation via Google Translate. Edited. [KavkazUzel] The investigation excluded one of the articles of accusation from the case of a native of Ingushetia, Leila Getagazheva; the young mother of two children is no longer charged with complicity in terrorist activities. However, Leila remains in the pre-trial detention center despite the arguments of her lawyers, human rights activists reported. As the "Caucasian Knot" wrote, on December 29, 2023, the Malgobek City Court, at the request of the defense, changed the preventive measure for Leila Gatagazheva from detention to house arrest for two months. A representative of the investigation insisted on extending the arrest, saying that if free, Gatagazheva could hide and put pressure on witnesses. On February 1, the court, at the insistence of the prosecutor, transferred Gatagazheva back to the pre-trial detention center. Leila Gatagazheva, born in 2001, is a mother of two children, she was accused of aiding terrorist activities (Part 2 of Article 205.5 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation) and participating in an illegal armed formation on the territory of Syria (Part 2 of Article 208 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation). Leila's mother took her from Ingushetia to Syria at the age of 12 and married her there when she was 13 years old. She has already served five years in an Iraqi prison on a similar charge of working for Islamic State militants, said the defense, which is seeking to have the criminal case dropped. The investigation dropped the charge against Leila of complicity in terrorist activities; now she is accused of only one article, participation in an illegal armed group, the Memorial Human Rights Center reported on February 7. The investigation has no evidence for the charges, Gatagazheva’s lawyer Ramina Labazanova insists. The defense notes that from the moment of extradition, no investigative actions were carried out with Leila, although the intelligence officers supervising the case tried to put pressure on her in order to obtain a confession. However, Leila did not plead guilty. In court, the defense pointed out that during the month spent under house arrest, Leila did not commit a single violation. The prosecutor, who demanded her transfer to a pre-trial detention center, did not provide reasoned arguments in favor of his position; the investigator, in turn, did not object to Leila’s continued stay under house arrest, but the court, against all odds, returned the young mother to custody. “As of February 7, Gatagazheva’s defense has not received a ruling from the Supreme Court of Ingushetia, so it is still unclear what the judge was guided by when he changed the preventive measure,” says a publication on the human rights organization’s website. Labazanova recalled that Leila had already served her sentence in Iraq for participation in a terrorist organization, but in Russia she is still charged with the same article (Part 2 of Article 208 of the Criminal Code, which provides for eight to fifteen years in prison) |
| Posted by:badanov |