The jury acquitted former Guantanamo Bay prisoners accused of blowing up the gas pipeline in Bugulma

Islam.Ru, referring to the Kommersant newspaper, reports that on September 28, in the Supreme Court of Tatarstan, the jury unanimously delivered a verdict on the innocence of former Guantanamo prisoners Timur Ishmuradov and Ravil Gumarov, as well as their friend Fanis Shaikhutdinov (who is sometimes also called Faikhutdinov in the press), accused of terrorism.

“The accused were under arrest for six months,” reminds Islam.ru. “During interrogations, according to human rights activists and the testimony of relatives and friends, the defendants were tortured and humiliated. As a result, they gave confessions, which were retracted at the trial.

Neither witnesses to the crime, nor fingerprints, nor any other physical evidence were provided to the court. The jury unanimously decided that the guilt of all three defendants was not proven and, therefore, they were innocent.

The prosecutor's office intends to appeal the jury's decision, believing that "procedural violations" were committed during the trial."

On October 14, a joint press conference was held in Moscow by Ravil Gumarov, Timur Ishmuratov, Fanis Shaikhutdinov and Heydar Dzhemal, Chairman of the Islamic Committee of Russia. During the press conference, the names of the people who tortured the prisoners were made public: Ravil Engalychev, head of the FSB in Bugulma, Nikolai Kuzmin, head of the Almetyevsk Organized Crime Control Department, Farid Asimov, Ilyas Ibragimov, and Aleksey Fedotov.

Sources

• Another case against former Guantanamo detainees crumbled // Islam.Ru. 2005. September 29.
• Names of law enforcers who tortured Muslims announced in Moscow // There. 18 October.