Defence seeks to stop criminal case against Ingush woman accused of ties with IS*

Leila Gatagazheva, a native of Ingushetia, extradited from Iraq in June this year, is accused of working for militants of the "Islamic State" (IS)* in Syria. She has already served five years in an Iraqi prison on a similar charge, Ramina Labazanova, an advocate has noted, adding that her defence is seeking to dismiss the criminal case.

The "Memorial" Centre for Human Rights Defence spoke about the criminal prosecution of Leila Gatagazheva: back in 2014, her mother and the latter's four children left for Syria from Ingushetia. There, Leila was forcibly married when she was 13 years old. In 2017, her husband was killed; she was left at the age of 16 with two children and a paralyzed mother-in-law. Gatagazheva surrendered to Iraqi authorities. Her mother-in-law, sentenced to 15 years, died in prison; Leila herself was sentenced to five years of freedom deprivation; her children lived with her in prison. In 2019, Gatagazheva's grandmother Lizkhan included her great-grandchildren into the list for repatriation to Russia. Now they live with their grandmother in Ingushetia.

The advocate has stated that investigators have no proofs of Gatagazheva's guilt on the charges brought against her; and there are no grounds for keeping her in custody. Labazanova has noted that the entire case was based on the testimony of one classified witness. The defence claims that Gatagazheva could not look after militants, since according to Muslim tradition, a married woman has no right to communicate with other males. As for the accusation of financing the IS*, according to the advocate, this is impossible, since Gatagazheva could barely make her ends meet.

The defence also claims that Gatagazheva was pressured by law enforcers who aimed to extract her confession, but she refused to sign it. Advocates complained about law enforcers' actions, but the initiation of a criminal case was refused.

Ms Labazanova has also reported Gatagazheva's poor health; there are suspicions that she is sick with tuberculosis.

*On December 29, 2014, the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation recognized the organization "Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant" (ISIL or IS) as a terrorist international organization and banned its activities in Russia.