Organizers of terror act in Pyatigorsk sentenced to long prison terms

The North-Caucasian District Military Court has sentenced six defendants in the case of the terror act committed in front of the GIBDD (traffic police) building in Pyatigorsk in 2013. The defendants have been sentenced to terms ranging from 17 years to life imprisonment.

On December 27, 2013, not far from the GIBDD building in Pyatigorsk, a car exploded, killing three bystanders. According to investigators, the terror act was organized by Tural Ataev, the leader of the militant grouping "Khasavyurt Sector" (he was killed on March 25, 2014, during a special operation in the Dagestani village of Pervomaiskoye).

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that the prisoner's dock contained Murad Ataev, a native of Azerbaijan; Ramazan and Vladimir Khalizov, natives of the Stavropol Territory; and three natives of Dagestan – Shamil Abdulazizov, Shamil Gazimagomedov and Magomed Ibragimov.

All the defendants were found guilty of involvement in a terrorist community, banditry and terrorist act. Ataev, Abdulazizov and Khalizov were also found guilty of illicit trafficking in arms and explosives, the "Interfax-Yug" reports.

Abdula Gaziev, who is defending Ibragimov and Khalizov brothers, said that he intends to appeal against the verdict. The advocate of Ataev is also going to appeal against his client's sentence.

The TASS specifies that all the defendants were members of the criminal grouping "Khasavyurt Sector" – a part of the terrorist community "Vilayat Dagestan".

Full text of the article is available on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’.