Lawyer for Belgorod imam, sentenced for 3 years in prison over illegal possession of weapons, to appeal against verdict
BELGOROD. May 10 (Interfax) - Lawyer Andrei Sotnikov, who is defending Faizulla Ismailov, a local imam who was found guilty of the illegal possession of weapons and explosives by the Oktyabrsk District Court on Tuesday and sentenced to three years in prison, has said that he is outraged by the verdict.
"We were convinced that it was going to be a non-guilty verdict. No evidence of my client's guilt was presented during the trial; no questions were asked. We are outraged by this verdict, and certainly going to appeal it," he told reporters.
The defense team will demand that the court discharges Ismailov on every count, Sotnikov added.
Faizulla Ismailov, the imam of a Belgorod mosque and a member of the Muslim religious group 'Peace and Creation', was prosecuted under the Article "Illegal Possession of Weapons and Explosives". The court sentenced him to three years in a general regime penal colony.
