The Cheka-OGPU and Rucriminal.info learned of the arrest of Roman Babayev, editor-in-chief of the online publication "Avtor i." The official reason for the arrest was an interview with the well-known Dagestani Islamic preacher Abu Umar Sasitlinsky, who is accused in Russia of financing ISIS, which was published almost ten years ago. However, the editorial staff itself links the incident to more recent publications, in particular about Agora Bank and its beneficiary, Irek Salikhov, the richest member of the State Council of Tatarstan. Maria Zakharova of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs even had to comment on one of Babayev's investigations. It was after these publications that the State Council of Tatarstan proposed that federal authorities ban journalists from publishing any investigations at all.

 

Babaev has been charged with aiding and abetting the financing of terrorism (Part 5 of Article 33, Part 4 of Article 205.1 of the Russian Criminal Code) and public justification of terrorism (Part 2 of Article 205.2 of the Russian Criminal Code). The Moscow District Court of Nizhny Novgorod has remanded Babaev in custody, and he is currently in pretrial detention. The charges relate to Babaev's interview with Abu Umar Sasitlinsky, which he posted on his YouTube channel, ALKIFAYA, back in 2018. Sasitlinsky is accused in Russia of financing ISIS, but he denies this. Interpol has refused to issue a wanted notice for Abu Umar, finding no evidence of his involvement with ISIS or the financing or justification of terrorism.

 

In 2023, Abdulmumin Gadzhiev, editor of the Religion section of the Chernovik newspaper, was sentenced to 17 years in prison for his ties to Sasitlinsky.

 

Investigators found that Babayev's interview with Sasitlinsky "verbally...created a positive image of Abu Umar" and "contained linguistic signs of advertising," leading them to conclude that the interview contained elements of "justification of terrorism."

 

The advertisements appear completely delusional, especially considering that eight years have passed since the interview, which was posted on Babayev's channel, which was not in hiding.

 

"The interview was not illegal, was not hidden, and could not have been considered a crime at the time of publication," Babayev's colleagues noted. They believe that the real reason for his arrest was Babayev's more recent professional activities.

 

The publications concerned the Agora Bank and how Tatarstan billionaires Ravil Ziganshin and Irek Salikhov became its beneficiaries through nominees. The publication suspected that the oligarchs needed the bank for shady schemes and were deliberately concealing the bank's capital shortfall from the Central Bank. Furthermore, Maria Zakharova had to answer the publication's journalists' question about how Salikhov manages to combine his duties as a member of the State Council of Tatarstan and as the Honorary Consul of North Macedonia in Kazan. "Avtor i" published a series of investigations about Agora, Salikhov, and Ziganshin, after which Babayev was required to remove the materials. Furthermore, it was precisely after these publications that a draft federal law was introduced by the State Council of Tatarstan, the essence of which is aimed at prohibiting the dissemination of "incriminating information" before a court decision, even the most tentative formulations.

In effect, any investigation would be banned, and the journalistic model would become illegal.

 

The bill was introduced by the State Security Committee, which includes the aforementioned Irek Salikhov.

 

It's worth noting that Yakov Khachanyan, a friend of Ramzan Kadyrov, is formally Ravil Ziganshin's former son-in-law. How they work together to "resolve" issues with the security forces will be discussed in our next article.