The prosecutor requested 19 years in prison for journalist Abdulmumin Hajiev

At the trial in the Southern District Military Court, the public prosecutor requested 19 years of strict regime prison for the journalist of the Dagestan newspaper “Chernovyk” Abdulmumin Hajiev, who is accused of financing terrorism. The prosecutor requested the same terms for the programmer Kemal Tambiev and the head of the “Ansar” charitable foundation Abubakar Ryzvanov, who are on trial together with Hadjiev, Kavkaz.Realii reports.

The state prosecution motivated the proposal by the fact that the court allegedly proved the participation of Hajiev, Kemalov and Ryzvanov in the financing of organizations banned in Russia, “Ig”, “Congress of the Peoples of Ichkeria and Dagestan” and “Higher Military Majlisul Shura of the United Forces of the Mujahideen of the Caucasus” and participation in their activities . This was reported in the Telegram channel “I/My Abdulmumin Hajiev”, which is run by the journalist’s colleagues.

According to the indictment, the defendants cooperated with the Dagestani preacher Israil Ahmednabiyev (known as Abu Umar Sasitlinskyi), who was declared wanted by Russia, collected donations and sent them to Syrian radical Islamists. At the same time, Interpol removed Akhmednabiyev from the international wanted list in April.

The defendants deny guilt. “The prosecutor literally read the indictment of the investigator during the debates, as if no court hearings had been held for two and a half years, to which for some reason he traveled every week from Makhachkala by train,” the channel quotes Hajiev. He himself previously said in court that he did not transfer money to any funds, and he heard the name Tambiev for the first time. “During the break, I was in a cage with two other detainees. I asked which one of them was Tambiev. A tortured and beaten man responded by name. Tambiev apologized to me and admitted that he had been asked,” the journalist said.

In May, the third examination of Hajiyev’s case did not see extremism in his publications, but found propaganda of spiritual revival, social development, scientific knowledge and education in Dagestan.

Earlier, a number of witnesses in the case, speaking in court, refused to confirm their statements recorded in the investigation protocols. Thus, the witness Albina Muratkova stated that the testimony she gave to the investigator was not read in court. Azamat Aliyev and Alexandra Katsaeva, who were involved in collecting money for children in Somalia and Dagestan, refused to confirm part of their testimony in court, as well as Magomed Patlukhaev, head of the hafiz school in the village of Novosasitly, and Shamil Kadyrov, who was convicted of financing terrorism.

One of the witnesses stated in court about the threats of the security forces, and two classified witnesses refused to answer additional defense questions, referring to a head injury and memory problems.

• Hajiev has been in pre-trial detention center for about four years in connection with this case. The human rights center “Memorial” declared Hajiev a political prisoner, and the international human rights organization Amnesty International recognized him as a prisoner of conscience. Reporters Without Borders and the International Committee for the Protection of Journalists also demand the release of Hajiyev.
• In November 2021, Hajiev’s lawyer, Arsen Shabanov, stated that not a single proof of Hajiev’s guilt was presented to the court, in particular, there was not a single witness whose testimony would confirm the prosecution’s version.
• Colleagues and relatives of Hajiyev hold individual pickets in Makhachkala every week demanding that the criminal prosecution of the journalist be stopped and he be released.