Leila Gatagazheva again placed under house arrest

Despite the fact that the decision to transfer Leila Gatagazheva, a native of Ingushetia, under house arrest was made in her favour, it still violates the law, since the investigation period has ended and she could not have been given a preventive freedom restriction measure at all. This was stated by Alaudi Musaev, her advocate.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that in February, investigators excluded the article on aiding terrorist activities from Gatagazheva's charges; now she is accused only of participating in an illegal armed formation (IAF). On April 27, the court ruled to transfer her to house arrest, but on May 14, the Supreme Court (SC) of Ingushetia returned her to the SIZO (pre-trial prison) for the second time. Her defence treated it as unjustified cruelty.

Ramina Labazanova, an advocate, has stated that Gatagazheva mother and daughter had never been to Syria, explaining that "Leila was taken to Iraq by her mother and uncle."

In itself, the removal of a minor daughter by a mother to another country is not a crime, Katerina Neroznikova, the coordinator of the "Marem" movement, has noted.

"As for marrying a girl at that age, this is an offense, according to Russian laws ... But according to the laws of Iraq, I don't know. Can this be called slavery? Maybe. This is a situation of lawlessness, close to slavery. Since she had no choice whether to go with her mother or not, it's very doubtful that she had a choice whether to get married or not, to have children or not at that age," Ms Neroznikova has stated.

*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.