In a federal court verdict, a U.S. citizen, Ruslan Maratovich Asainov, 46, formerly of Bay Ridge, New York, has been found guilty on all five counts of conspiring and providing material support to ISIS. Asainov was also convicted of receiving military-type training from ISIS and obstructing justice. U.S. District Judge Nicholas G. Garaufis presided over the two-week trial. The jury further ruled that Asainov’s activities resulted in one or more deaths.
Matthew G. Olsen, Assistant Attorney General for National Security, stated, “Mr. Asainov, a US citizen, traveled abroad to kill and train others to kill on behalf of ISIS. Now, he is being held accountable.”
The prosecution successfully demonstrated that Asainov, after converting to Islam in 2009, radicalized over a period of years before finally leaving for Syria in December 2013, abandoning his wife and daughter.
“Earlier today, in federal court in Brooklyn, New York, Ruslan Maratovich Asainov, 46, a U.S. citizen and former resident of Bay Ridge, Brooklyn, was sentenced to life in prison for providing material support to ISIS, a designated foreign terrorist organization, that resulted in death. Asainov was also sentenced to concurrent terms of 20 years in prison on related convictions of conspiracy to provide material support to ISIS and obstruction of justice, and 10 years in prison for receipt of military-type training from ISIS. Asainov was convicted by a federal jury after a three-week trial in February,” the Department of Justice said on Tuesday.
In Syria, Asainov fought in multiple battles, rising through the ranks to become a sniper and weapons instructor. “As proven at trial, Asainov was a member of ISIS who was so committed to the terrorist organization’s evil cause that he abandoned his young family here in Brooklyn, New York,” said U.S. Attorney Breon Peace for the Eastern District of New York. Asainov was estimated to have trained nearly 100 others as a sniper trainer or “emir” for ISIS.
Robert R. Wells, Assistant Director of the FBI’s Counterterrorism Division, emphasized the unyielding efforts to hold individuals accountable for terrorism-related activities. “This verdict demonstrates the FBI and our partners will use all of our legally available tools to hold accountable anyone who assists ISIS or other terrorist groups,” Wells said.
Asainov was captured in Syria during ISIS’s last stand at Baghouz in March 2019.