The prosecution asks that Imam Makhmud Velitov be sentenced to three and a half years in prison

On April 24, during the debate of the parties, the prosecution asked the judge of the Moscow District Military Court to sentence Imam Mahmud Velitov, accused of publicly justifying terrorism, to three and a half years in prison in a general regime colony. This was reported on April 24 by the RAPSI agency. The prosecutor also asked to deprive Velitov of the right to engage in religious activities for three years.

Earlier it became known that the Investigative Committee reclassified the charge against the imam from part 2 of article 205.2 of the Criminal Code (public justification of terrorism committed using the media) to part 1 of article 205.2 of the Criminal Code (public calls for terrorist activities or public justification of terrorism). In connection with the re-qualification of the charges, Velitov's preventive measure was changed from house arrest to a written undertaking not to leave.

The imam of the Yardyam mosque in Moscow, Makhmud Velitov, was detained on July 11 and placed under house arrest. According to investigators, on September 23, 2013, Velitov publicly delivered a speech in a mosque justifying the activities of activist Abdulla Gappaev, who was killed in Kizlyar. Gappaev was suspected of involvement in the activities of Hizb ut-Tahrir, an organization that is recognized as a terrorist organization in the Russian Federation and banned, according to human rights activists, without reason.

However, Velitov's defense claims that the imam did not say anything about this party, as well as Gappaev's membership in it, since he did not have such information. According to Velitov's defense version, he only performed a religious ceremony in relation to the deceased Muslim, namely, reading a prayer in the name of forgiveness of the earthly sins of the deceased.