Daghestani man sentenced to 6 years for ‘attempting to join militants in Syria’

A resident of Daghestan was sentenced to six years in prison and one year of probation on 13 April, for attempting to join militants in Syria. Absudalam Ramazanov denies his guilt and is planning to appeal the verdict.

The trial of the 23-year-old resident of Tsuntinsky District commenced in January in the North Caucasian Military District Court in Rostov-on-Don, over a year after his arrest in November 2015. According to the indictment, Ramazanov attempted to join militants in Syria.

The prosecutor requested that Ramazanov be sentenced to 13 years, however the court sentenced him to six years in a penal colony and one year’s probation.

‘Ramazanov was ready for a conviction’, his lawyer, Elena Denisenko, told OC Media.

‘He understood well that those who are tried for “cases on Syria” are never acquitted. But my client does not admit his guilt. All the documents that he signed during the investigation — he did so under torture. He didn’t even know what he was signing’, Denisenko told us.

Ramazanov has ten days to appeal the court’s decision to the judicial board for military servicemen of the Supreme Court of Russia.