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Russian ex-mayor sentenced to life for terrorism

Amirov, who had been the mayor of Dagestan’s capital for 15 years, was arrested in June 2013 on suspicion of having organized a contract killing

Said Amirov ITAR-TASS/Dmitriy Rogulin

Said Amirov

© ITAR-TASS/Dmitriy Rogulin

ROSTOV-ON-DON, August 27. /TASS/. The North Caucasus district military court on Thursday sentenced the former mayor of Dagestan’s capital Makhachkala, Said Amirov, to life in jail for terrorism, a TASS correspondent reported from the courtroom.

"Amirov’s guilt has been proved. On several counts, by applying cumulative punishment the court finally ruled to sentence Amirov to life imprisonment," the judge said.

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The judge said Amirov will serve his sentence in a high-security penal colony. The other defendants were jailed to between 9 and 22 years, the judge said. Among them is Amirov’s nephew Yusup Dzhaparov and also Magomed Akhmedov. The court ruled to increase the time they will spend in jail to 18 and 11 years, respectively.

Amirov, who had been the mayor of Dagestan’s capital for 15 years, was arrested in June 2013 on suspicion of having organized a contract killing. In July 2014, the court sentenced him to 10 years behind bars for a plot to assassinate his political rival by shooting down the man's plane with a Strela 2M anti-aircraft missile.

According to investigators, the defendants were involved in organizing a terrorist attack, attempt at life of an acting head of a territorial investigative authority and also other severe crimes.

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Fight against terrorism Caucasus

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