(New York) An American of Kazakh origin, Ruslan Maratovich Asainov, a sniper for the Islamic State (IS), was sentenced Tuesday by a judge in New York to life imprisonment after a trial in which he maintained his allegiance to the jihadist group.
Brooklyn federal court judge Nicholas Garaufis also sentenced the jihadist-turned-“emir” to three other sentences – 70, 20 and 10 years – for providing material support resulting in death, conspiracy to provide material support , obstructing the exercise of justice and having received military training for the benefit of the “foreign terrorist organization” IS.
“Today’s sentencing rightly holds Mr. Asainov accountable for the carnage he caused as a member who pledged allegiance to ISIS and protected the world from this declared killer,” the federal prosecutor said. by New York Breon Peace.
“The defendant dedicated his life to this terrorist organization, becoming a deadly sniper for ISIS in Syria, training many other ISIS members to shoot to kill,” he continued. “To this day, the accused maintains his allegiance to this heinous cause.”
The former sniper, 46, left his family and left for Syria at the end of 2013 to join the ranks of the IS jihadists, with whom he had fought until his capture by the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF). ) in March 2019.
During his years within ISIS, he had risen through the ranks to become one of its “emirs”, responsible for training fighters in the use of precision weapons. He also helped build training camps.
In Syria, he stayed in touch with people in the United States, sending messages and photographs of himself on the battlefield. “We are the worst terrorist organization that has ever existed in the world,” he said in a 2015 message, according to court documents.
He left for Syria in the company of an American born in Kosovo, Mirsad Kandic, himself sentenced to life in prison in the United States in July.