A U.S. citizen and former resident of Bay Ridge, N.Y., faces up to life in prison after a federal jury in Brooklyn convicted him of providing support to the Islamic State group.
A jury found, following a two-week trial before U.S. District Judge Nicholas Garaufis, that Ruslan Maratovich Asainov, 46, provided material support to the Islamic State group “ISIS” that “resulted in the death of one or more persons,” a Feb. 7 news release said.
“As proven at trial, Asainov was a member of ISIS, a violent foreign terrorist organization, which has committed numerous acts resulting in the deaths of many U.S. citizens and others,” U.S. States Attorney for the Eastern District of New York Breon Peace said in the release. “The defendant committed to the terrorist organization’s evil cause and made an extraordinary journey to the battlefield in Syria, where he became a lethal sniper for ISIS and trained many other ISIS members to kill. Even after being captured, he still pledged his allegiance to ISIS. Today’s verdict in an American courtroom is a victory for our system of justice, and against ISIS and those like the defendant who are committed to murdering innocent people here in the United States and abroad.”
A five-count indictment charged Asainov “with conspiracy to provide material support to ISIS; providing material support to ISIS in the form of personnel, training, expert advice and assistance; receipt of military-type training from ISIS; and obstruction of justice,” according to the release.
Asainov fought in several battles on behalf of the militant organization “as a warrior and sniper,” the release said.
“Asainov converted to Islam in 2009 and subsequently became increasingly interested in Islamic extremism,” the release said. “On Dec. 24, 2013, Asainov abandoned his wife and daughter in Brooklyn, and traveled on a one-way ticket from New York to Istanbul, Turkey, to obtain entry into Syria.”
Asainov was captured in March 2019 “after ISIS’ last stand at Baghouz, near the Syria-Iraq border,” according to the release.
“With today’s guilty verdict, Asainov now faces the possibility of spending the rest of his life in prison for providing material support to ISIS which resulted in death,” Michael Driscoll, assistant director-in-charge, FBI New York field office, said in the release. “Combating terrorism worldwide remains the FBI’s top priority, and the dedicated personnel assigned to our New York Joint Terrorism Task force will continue to work tirelessly to bring to justice all those who seek to commit acts of terror against the United States and our citizens.”
New York Police Department Commissioner Keechant Sewell said, as a naturalized U.S. citizen, Asainov forsook his country and his family in New York City in pledging allegiance to ISIS and promoting the group’s violent objectives, the release reported.
“Today’s verdict serves as a warning to anyone who intends to support or conduct attacks on behalf of such a despicable organization: You will be brought to justice,” Sewell said in the release. “The threat of ISIS-inspired murder and chaos remains very real, however, and the members of our FBI-NYPD Joint Terrorism Task Force – in close partnership with our law enforcement colleagues across the globe – will never cease working to identify those who so clearly consider our country their sworn enemy.”
