ISIL members who stand accused in preparation of terrorist attack in Moscow partially admit their guilt
MOSCOW. Dec 14 (Interfax) - Three men with origins in the Northern Caucasus, who stand accused of involvement in the terrorist organization Islamic State and preparation of a terrorist attack in Moscow, have partially admitted their guilt, an Interfax correspondent reported.
"The accusation is clear, I admit guilt partially," Aslan Baisultanov said in the Moscow District Military Court.
Mokhmad Mezhidov and Elman Ashayev also partially admitted their guilt.
The prosecutors earlier said, citing information obtained through preliminary investigation, that Baisultanov and Ashayev had joined the terrorist community that is a division of the international terrorist organization Islamic State, which is banned in Russia. After that, Baisultanov, who arrived in Syria in February 2013, took part in subversive and terrorist actions against the lawful government of that country.
After returning to Russia in late 2013, Baisultanov and Ashayev purchased weapons and munitions to carry out terrorist attacks, which they used to make an explosive substance weighing 4.9 kilos. Having delivered the explosive substance and an electric detonator to Moscow, which Mezhidov helped store in Moscow, they intended to carry out a terrorist attack, the investigators said.
Depending on the role and degree of participation, they are accused of participation in a terrorist community, participation in the activities of an organization recognized as terrorist in Russia, attempted participation in a terrorist community, illegal production of explosive devices by an organized group, and other crimes.
When the measure of restraint was chosen for the men in October 2015, an investigator from the Federal Security Service said the mastermind of the terrorist attack was a man named Shamil Chergizov, from whom Baisultanov received the explosive substance and a detonator at the Grozny railway station on October 3, 2015. According to investigators, the purpose of the terrorist attack was to destabilize the situation in Russia and to influence the authorities to cause them to make a decision to stop the operation in Syria against ISIL. According to the case materials voiced when the measure of restraint was announced for Ashayev, he has admitted his guilt and is actively cooperating with the investigators.
