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How Extremism Found Russian Karaulova… Revealed Next Week | ASHARQ AL-AWSAT English Archive 2005 -2017
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Varvara Karaulova pictured in a military court in Moscow as she is accused of trying to join ISIS


Moscow-Moscow’s court is expected to allocate a hearing session on 21 December to listen to Varvara Karaulova, 21, who is accused of attempting to join ISIS.

Student of the Faculty of Philosophy of Moscow State University Karaulova, allegedly decided to join ISIS, the organization banned in Russia, and secretly left for Istanbul on May 27.

On June 4, she was arrested near Turkey’s border with Syria along with 13 other Russian citizens when attempting to cross into the territory occupied by ISIS militants.

On June 11, she returned to Russia under escort of Interpol employees.

Prosecutors have demanded five years in jail for Karaulova, 21, for seeking to join a terrorist organization, claiming she intended to become a “sniper or suicide bomber.”

Her family claimed that the “sexy underwear” she packed proved she had mistakenly fallen in love with a terrorist and denied she planned to become a killer.

She did not tell her parents she was travelling to Syria, and for several years she had been in internet contact with the terror group member.

Her lawyer Ilya Novikov told the court she had no intention to become a terrorist, and the prosecution had failed to prove otherwise.

“The position of the prosecution is that if she is doing a terrorist’s laundry, cooking for him, and bearing him children, then she is a terrorist herself,” he said.

She will have one more chance to address the judge before a verdict is delivered later this month.