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Caucasus/Russia/Central Asia
Islamist warlord goes on trial in North Caucasus
2013-05-14
A former police officer who switched sides and joined with North Caucasus terrorists militants to become one of their leaders went on trial in Rostov-on-Don on Monday.

Ali Taziyev, also known by his alias Magas, is accused of setting up an armed militant group, illegal arms trafficking, terrorism, inciting rebellion and the attempted murder of a law enforcement officer. Charges against him include 24 counts of terrorism as well.

The trial, which will feature evidence from more than 600 victims and over 400 eyewitnesses, started amid tough security measures at the military court on Monday. Taziyev, who became one of the top leaders of the Imarat Kavkaz terrorist militant group and second in command in that organization after terrorist leader Doku Umarov, pleaded not guilty to almost all of the charges.

He said, "I plead guilty to [charges under Article] 208 [setting up an illegal armed group] and to [Article] 222 [illegal possession of arms]. I plead not guilty to the rest of the charges. I haven't done any of that, and I gave no such orders."
"The very idea!"
When Taziyev was arrest in North Ossetia in June 2010, FSB director Alexander Bortnikov described him as a "leader of the criminal underground," responsible for hundreds of deaths in Ingushetia, including an attack by terrorists militants on police and government offices in Nazran in 2004 that left 79 people dead.

Among other crimes he is suspected of the bombing of a bus in the town of Nevinnomyssk in December 2007, the bombing of a police station in the Nazran district of Ingushetia in August 2009, and an attempt to assassinate Ingush President Yunus-Bek Yevkurov in June 2009.

Prosecutors believe that Taziyev joined regional terrorists militants on his own initiative in 1999 after being kidnapped by Chechen gunmen in fall of 1998. Previously, he was a sergeant at the Ingush police's Extradepartmental Protection department, providing private security services on a contractual basis.
Posted by:ryuge

#2  Ahh sweet Ingushetia, a land were random citizens disapear daily, where the head of opposing political parties die in police custody, one of the few areas lucky enough to have a Chechen war veteran appointed president by Putin himslef while the prime minisiter funds the insurgency!!! Such a land of excitement and civil war. Sweet Ingushetia.
Posted by: jefe101   2013-05-14 11:27  

#1  Mr. Taziyev's pre-sentence activities may include grave digging.
Posted by: Besoeker   2013-05-14 09:56  

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