ROSTOV-ON-DON. Sept 12 (Interfax) - Rostov-on-Don's Southern District Military Court has found Abdulmumin Gadzhiyev, a journalist of Dagestan's Chernovik newspaper, guilty of terrorism financing, an Interfax correspondent reported from the courtroom.
The court sentenced Gadzhiyev to 17 years in a high-security penal colony.
The court sentenced another two defendants, Dagestan residents Abubakar Rizvanov and Kemal Tambiyev, to 18 years and 17 and a half years in a high-security penal colony, respectively.
As reported, Gadzhiyev, Tambiyev and Rizvanov were detained on June 14, 2019 on suspicion of funding terrorist activities. On June 18, the Makhachkala court arrested Gadzhiyev.
The investigators said that a certain Israil Akhmednabiyev joined a terrorist organization in 2009 and in the same year teamed up with Gadzhiyev, Rizvanov, Tambiyev and other unidentified persons, organizing fundraising under the guise of operating charitable foundations to build a mosque, help orphans, the seriously ill, and refugees in Syria.
Gadzhiyev, being an editor of the religious department of a sociopolitical weekly newspaper, published a number of articles calling on people to donate money to the funds they created.
"In total, as a result of the fundraising for terrorism financing organized by Akhmednabiyev, Rizvanov, Gadzhiyev, Tambiyev and other persons unidentified by the investigation, at least 68 million rubles, $200,000 and 48,000 Turkish liras were deposited into the accounts of the charitable foundations set up by them," the Investigative Committee said.
Akhmednabiyev is on the international wanted list. The case against the other defendants under the Russian Criminal Code articles of involvement in the activities of an extremist organization, involvement in the activities of a terrorist organization and the organizing of terrorist financing was submitted to court. The public prosecutor sought 19 years in a high-security penal colony for each of the three.