Ingush residents Bekov and Tsitskiev denied change of sentence for preparing terror act

The Supreme Court (SC) of Russia refused to cancel the sentence to Ingush residents Aslan Bekov and Ruslan Tsitskiev, who were sentenced to long terms of imprisonment for preparing a terror act during the 2018 FIFA World Cup.

The “Caucasian Knot” has reported that on May 30, 2022, it became known that the court sentenced four residents of Ingushetia to long terms of imprisonment, including Aslan Bekov and Ruslan Tsitskiev, finding them guilty of preparing a terror act during the 2018 FIFA World Cup, justifying terrorism, illegal possession of firearms, and membership in the “Islamic State” (IS)*.

According to the investigators’ version, Aslan Bekov created an IS* cell in 2018, which included several residents of Ingushetia. All of them “planned to commit terror acts during the World Cup in Russia, including in Ingushetia.”

A counterterrorist operation (CTO) against an IS* cell took place in Nazran in June 2018. It caused outrage among residents of Ingushetia. The suspects killed during the CTO were members of a retired police colonel’s family, and none of them had any connection to militants and did not shoot at law enforcers, local residents stated. The law enforcement bodies claimed that the killed suspects had sworn allegiance to the IS*.

The convicted men themselves claimed that they had confessed to the crime under torture.

*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.