15:56, 22 December 2016

Karaulova sentenced to 4.5 years in prison

Alexandra Ivanova (Varvara Karaulova). Photo: RFE/RL

Today, the Moscow District Military Court has delivered its verdict to the student Alexandra Ivanova (Varvara Karaulova), having found her guilty of trying to join a terrorist organization in Syria.

On June 4, 2015, Varvara Karaulova, a student of the Moscow State University (MSU), was detained at the Turkish-Syrian border among other citizens of Russia, including natives of Chechnya and Dagestan, and citizens of Azerbaijan, who, according to the investigators, intended to join the "Islamic State", banned in Russia by court and recognized as a terrorist organization. During the preliminary investigation, Alexandra Ivanova pleaded guilty; however, later she retracted her confession.

According to the verdict, she will serve her term in a general-security colony. The one year and two months, already spent by her in the SIZO (pre-trial prison), will be included into her term, the RBC reports.

The defence of the convict has told reporters that they will appeal against the verdict. Varvara Karaulova herself has faced the verdict calmly and answered the judges' question that the verdict is clear, and she has no questions to the court, the RBC adds.

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