The Sovetsky District Court of Makhachkala has sent three men suspected of preparing a terrorist attack in Kaspiysk to pretrial detention for two months, Interfax reported, citing the head of the Supreme Court of Dagestan, Zarema Mamaeva.
According to her, the case materials state that no later than June 2024, the men «created a terrorist community» to blow up the Church of the Kazan Icon of the Mother of God in Kaspiysk along with its parishioners. They planned to commit other serious crimes, Mamaeva added.
The investigation claims that the suspects kept a homemade explosive device, which they were going to bring to the church, in the home of one of the men.
The FSB reported on the detention of three residents of Kaspiysk on July 27. The agency called the men «adherents» of a terrorist organization banned in Russia. The suspects planned to attack security forces along with the temple, the FSB claims. During searches, flags of an unnamed international terrorist organization, instructions for assembling explosive devices, and «instructions for conducting combat operations in urban and forest conditions» were found on them, the special service said in a press release.
In the video published by the FSB, one of the detainees says on camera: «We have come to the conclusion that we need to wage jihad. <…> One of the options is to blow up the church, the church on Lenin, at the end of Lenin — opposite the Molot sports hall.» The church that Mamaeva spoke about is located on Lenin Street.
A criminal case has been opened against the detainees for preparing a terrorist act, organization of a terrorist communityand illegal manufacture of explosives.
“Every second is decisive here.” A priest from Makhachkala talks about a terrorist attack
On July 12, a court in Adygea sent a defendant in a case of preparing a terrorist attack on a church in Maykop to pretrial detention. According to the FSB, a citizen of one of the Central Asian countries and a supporter of the “Islamic State” planned to kill priests and guards, as well as set fire to the church.
At the end of June, Orthodox churches and synagogues were fired upon in Derbent and Makhachkala, and police officers were attacked. 21 people were killed, including 16 security officers. On the night after the attack, the NAC reported the killing of five militants. Four people have been arrested in connection with the attack.