An Armenian court has rejected a motion by the defense of arrested billionaire and Russian citizen Samvel Karapetyan to post $1 million bail, the Hraparak newspaper reported, citing the businessman's lawyers.
The FSB detained a native of the Rostov region on suspicion of financing the activities of the Islamic State, an international organization that is recognized as a terrorist organization in the Russian Federation. A criminal case has been initiated against the man. This was reported by the press service of the Federal Security Service of Russia in the region.
The intelligence service claims that the suspect transferred money to the owner of the Umma publishing house, who had previously been convicted of organizing the financing of terrorism. It is noted that the case is qualified under Part 1 of Art. 205.1 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation (assistance to terrorist activities). Literature of an extremist nature and large sums of money were found at the detainee's place of residence.
Recall that in February of this year, a court in Moscow sentenced the owner of the Umma publishing house, Aslambek Ezhaev, to 17 years in prison in the case of organizing the financing of ISIS. According to the investigation, announced two days after his arrest, Aslambek Ezhaev, using his Sberbank cards and accounts of the Umma publishing house, collected 34 million rubles to finance terrorists and transferred them to unknown persons in an unknown way. The prosecution was based solely on the testimony of "classified" witnesses. As evidence of the criminal movement of finance, statements from Aslambek's accounts were given, reflecting the receipt of money for the books sold. There were no outgoing transactions in favor of terrorists in these extracts.
Everyone who knows Ezhaev is convinced that a criminal case against him has been fabricated. Religious scholars, human rights activists, book publishers, journalists, Ukrainian religious figures spoke out in his defense through various Russian and international publications. Lev Levinson, an expert at the Institute of Human Rights, expressed his conviction that the persecution of the book publisher Ezhaev is a manifestation of Russia's anti-religious state policy.