INCIDENTS

The end of "Society No. 3"

An off-site session of the Stavropol Regional Court in Pyatigorsk yesterday delivered a verdict in the case of Karachay-Cherkessia residents Khyzyr Salpagarov, Ramazan Gochiyayev, and Eduard Kharatokov, who, according to intelligence services, were leaders of the extremist organization "Muslim Society No. 3."

• All three were found guilty by a jury several weeks ago; now the court has sentenced them.
• The prosecutor's representative demanded life imprisonment for the defendants, but the court, taking into account a number of mitigating circumstances, gave them long but limited prison terms.
• Salpagarov received 19 years, Kharatokov — 15.
• The longest sentence, 23 years in prison, was given to Gochiyayev.

According to the Prosecutor General's Office, "Muslim Society No. 3" was formed in Karachay-Cherkessia back in the mid-90s and preached Wahhabi ideas, establishing branches in many villages and in neighboring Kabardino-Balkaria.

As intelligence services later discovered:

• Members of the "society" underwent training in Khattab's sabotage camps in Chechnya.
• They then developed a plan for an armed seizure of power in these two republics and the creation of a Muslim state on their territory.

According to the prosecution, the Karachay Wahhabis did not have time for the rebellion due to the resumption of hostilities in Chechnya in late 1999, after which they reoriented toward carrying out terrorist attacks.

• One of the leaders of the "society," Achemez Gochiyayev, is now the main defendant in the case of the bombing of residential buildings in Moscow and is still wanted.
• Intelligence services picked up the trail of the remaining Wahhabis after a series of terrorist attacks in Minvody, Nevinnomyssk, and Pyatigorsk in late 2000 – early 2001.
• Soon, about 20 members of "Muslim Society No. 3" were detained, and all were charged with creating an illegal armed formation, terrorism, and a number of other crimes.
• 16 rank-and-file militants of the "society" were convicted in August, all receiving from 4 to 16 years in prison.

Regarding the three Wahhabi leaders, the case was separated into a separate proceeding. Despite the fact that the jury had previously dropped the main charge against them — preparing for a violent seizure of power — the prosecutor's representative stated yesterday that he was generally satisfied with the verdict handed down to them.

Gennady KNYAZEV