Ersmak Saraliyev
- Criminal Code
- Article 205 item a (part unknown) applied with Article 30 (part unknown), Russian Criminal CodeArticle 222 part 3, Russian Criminal CodeArticle 223 (part unknown), Russian Criminal Code
- Case category
- Terrorism cases
- Verdict
- Imprisonment (strict regime)
- Sentence
- 11 years
- Date of verdict
- 2016-04-21
- Region
- Moscow
- City
- Moscow
Recognition by human rights organisations
- Recognised as unlawfully deprived of liberty for exercising freedom of religionby Union of Solidarity with Political Prisoners, 30 April 2017
This is the assessment of the organisation named above, not ours. FACTUM reports it with attribution and does not make its own.
Case summary
Moscow resident. Following the arrest of thirteen people in a hostel on suspicion of involvement in preparing the terrorist attack on the Kirgizia cinema, Saraliyev, who had previously also lived in the hostel, gave an interview to Kavkazskaya Politika in which he claimed their innocence and also appealed to various authorities. Saraliyev received threats, and on 8 December 2013 he was detained at his sister's flat and then arrested on the same charge - the investigation declared him the ideologist of the group.
Despite the fact that Saraliyev had moved out of the flat two months before the raid, an expert examination revealed the presence of explosives on his clothes and hair.
Human rights activists believe that there is no convincing evidence of his involvement in the crime; in their opinion, the persecution was part of a campaign to put pressure on Muslims.
On 22 April 2016, he was sentenced to eleven years in a strict regime colony. Presumably, he was released in early December 2024.
Others charged under Article 205 item a (part unknown) applied with Article 30 (part unknown), Russian Criminal Code
What we write about political persecution
Recent material from this section. This is section navigation — the articles below are not about this person.
- 2026-09-04Georgia court clears extradition of Fugal ally to Russia
- 2026-09-04Russia labels Novaya Gazeta a 'foreign agent,' adds over 100 affiliated names
- 2026-09-04Russian court sentences hostage-takers from Rostov detention center to up to 29 years
- 2026-09-04Two Yabloko Duma candidates detained in Moscow two days before vote
- 2026-09-03British man says Russian police beat him, jumped on his head at station in Yessentuki
Source: this person’s record in the OVD-Info political persecution database
Published under CC BY 3.0. The criteria for treating a person as politically persecuted belong to OVD-Info; FACTUM relays their assessment and makes none of its own.
OVD-Info has been designated an «extremist» organisation in Russia — by decision of the Russian authorities, like other independent human rights and media projects.