Zelimkhan Ganzhuev

He was imprisoned in colony No. 12 in Nizhny Novgorod region, where a criminal case for participation in the activities of an extremist organisation was initiated against him. Ganzhuev himself stated that the charges were brought because he refused to cooperate with the FSB. His lawyer asserted that his client did not know some of the other defendants in the case and did not participate in the organisation’s activities at all. Ganzhuev was charged with involvement in the activities of the movement “At-Takfir wal-Hijra”; some experts believe that there is no evidence that such a movement exists. According to Ganzhuev, the authorities classified as an extremist organisation a group of Muslims who merely prayed together and communicated with one another. On 22 December 2023, he was sentenced to 3 years and 6 months’ imprisonment in a strict-regime penal colony.