Georgian citizen convicted in Chechnya for terrorist activities

On 25 June, the Zavodsky District Court of Grozny sentenced a citizen of Georgia, Beslan Gaurgashvili, to three years in a penal colony for participating in the war in Syria on the side of the Islamic State.

Chechen investigators established that Gaurgashvili travelled to Syria in 2013 and several months later, in 2014, he returned to Chechnya. He resided in Oktyabrsky District of Grozny when he was detained by the police.

Gaurgashvili was found guilty on the charge of ‘participating in armed formation in the territory of a foreign state for purposes contrary to the interests of the Russian Federation’.

On 9 June, the Zavodsky District Court of Grozny found another Georgian citizen, Ruslan Tsatiashvili, also guilty of participating in the armed conflict in Syria. Tsatiashvili was sentenced to one year and ten months in prison.