Former Brooklyn man busted as high-ranking ISIS sniper

The Bobster

Senior News Editor since 2004
https://nypost.com/2019/07/19/us-citizen-accused-of-being-high-ranking-isis-member/

Former Brooklyn man busted as high-ranking ISIS sniper
By Bob Fredericks
July 19, 2019 | 12:18pm

The feds have busted a former Brooklyn resident they called a top ISIS sniper who had visited Syria and gave “material support” to the bloodthirsty jihadis.

According to a criminal complaint released Friday, Ruslan Maratovich Asainov, 41, was a naturalized US citizen born in Kazakhstan who lived in Brooklyn between 1998 and 2013.

The accused terrorist was detained overseas by the Syrian Democratic Forces and was later transferred to US custody and arrived at JFK on Thursday, the feds said.

“In December 2013, the defendant traveled to Istanbul, Turkey, which is a common transit point to obtain entry into Syria. He subsequently entered Syria, joined ISIS, and became a sniper for the terrorist organization,” according to the complaint.

“Over time, the defendant rose through the ranks to become an ISIS ‘emir’ in charge of training other ISIS members in the use of weapons. He also attempted to recruit another individual to travel from the United States to Syria to fight for ISIS.”

In March 2015, Asainov asked a confidential informant to send him about $2,800 so that he could buy a scope for his rifle.

Asainov then sent the informant two photographs showing him brandishing an assault rifle fitted with a scope.

He also sent a photo showing three dead fighters, and messaged a pal to praise ISIS.

“We are the worst terrorist organization in the world that has ever existed,” he said, adding that he wished to die on the battlefield.

“You will be f–king scared for the rest of your life. We will get you. We will f–king kill you. You heard of ISIS.

“We will get you. You need to obey. You need to be punished you f–king [redacted]. We will find you and teach you how to behave,” he said.

He later said his “faith in Islam” had been “renewed” in Syria, and he even asked the confidential informant — and his family — to come join the fight, saying ISIS would provide food and $50 a month, and that even “grandmothers” were joining the battle.

The feds said they are determined to track down any other Americans who cast their lot with ISIS or other terrorist groups.

“The United States is committed to holding accountable those who have left this country in order to fight for ISIS,” said Assistant Attorney General John Demers.

“As alleged in the court filings, Asainov traveled overseas, joined ISIS, and became a fighter and a sniper for the terrorist organization. He was ultimately detained overseas, turned over to the FBI, and will now face justice in an American courtroom.”

The suspect will be presented in federal court in Brooklyn at 2 p.m. Friday before Magistrate Judge Steven Gold, when more details will be released.
 
https://nypost.com/2019/09/11/accused-isis-sniper-from-brooklyn-would-take-up-arms-if-released-feds/

Accused ISIS sniper from Brooklyn would ‘take up arms’ if released: feds
By Ruth Weissmann and Ebony Bowden
September 11, 2019 | 5:58pm

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A former Brooklyn man accused of being a top ISIS sniper admitted he would “take up arms” in support of the terror group again if he was released, prosecutors claimed Wednesday.

Ruslan Maratovich Asainov, 42, who was busted in July on charges of providing material assistance to a terror group, was ordered to stay behind bars at his arraignment in Brooklyn federal court, with Judge Nicholas Garaufis agreeing he posed “a danger to the community.”

“He confesses that if he were released, he would take up arms in support of ISIS again,” prosecutor Saritha Komatireddy told the judge, who agreed to keep Asainov detained at Metropolitan Correctional Center, where he is under heightened security.

The Kazakhstan-born alleged jihadi appeared in the courtroom looking solemn, but refused to speak. His lawyer pleaded not guilty on his behalf — saying Asainov wouldn’t do it himself “because he doesn’t recognize the American system of laws.”

“He’s converted to Islam. He lives by Sharia law,” lawyer Susan Kellman told reporters after the proceeding. “He doesn’t believe he has any obligation to abide by the American legal system.”

Komatireddy told the judge Asainov was a “clear danger” and a flight risk, citing his contacts in both Syria and Kazakhstan.

“He considers himself a citizen of the Islamic state,” she said, adding that he was a “high-level member” of the terror group.

The feds say Asainov, who is a naturalized US citizen, moved to Syria six years ago to join ISIS but lived in Brooklyn from 1998 to 2013 — when he left behind his then-wife and young daughter in Bensonhurst.

While there, he was trained to be one of the terror group’s top snipers and firearms instructors, documenting it all in incriminating messages and photos, prosecutors allege.

In March 2015, he asked a confidential informant to send him about $2,800 so that he could buy a scope for his rifle, prosecutors claim.

He later asked the informant — and his family — to come join the fight, saying ISIS would provide food and $50 a month, and that even “grandmothers” were joining the battle.

The accused terrorist was detained overseas by the Syrian Democratic Forces, and was later transferred to US custody and brought to New York in July, according to the feds.

Asainov is scheduled to be back in court on Dec. 11.
 

American Citizen Sentenced to Life in Prison for Providing Material Support to ISIS That Resulted in Death​

Tuesday, October 17, 2023

For Immediate Release
Office of Public Affairs

Defendant Was a Sniper and Weapons Instructor for the Foreign Terrorist Organization and Fought in Multiple Battles in Syria

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.

“Mr. Asainov abandoned his family and country to fight for ISIS and train others to carry out its reign of terror, a cause to which he remains devoted to this day,” said Assistant Attorney General Matthew G. Olsen of the Justice Department's National Security Division. “Now, he is being held accountable for his crimes with a sentence of life in prison. The Department of Justice is committed to bringing to justice those who would aid such murderous terrorist organizations.”

“Today’s life sentence was rightly holds Asainov responsible for the carnage he inflicted as a sworn member of ISIS and protects the world community from this avowed killer,” said U.S. Attorney Breon Peace for the Eastern District of New York. “The defendant committed his life to that terrorist organization and became a lethal sniper for ISIS in Syria, training many other ISIS members to shoot to kill as ISIS waged its brutal, barbaric campaign.

To this day, the defendant maintains his unrepentant allegiance to that evil cause. Like this defendant now knows, anyone who takes up arms in service of ISIS and causes death and destruction will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law by this office.”

“The U.S. government worked tirelessly with our international partners to locate and return this U.S. citizen to face accountability for his crimes,” said Executive Assistant Director Larissa L. Knapp of the FBI’s National Security Branch. “He's a convicted terrorist who fought for ISIS and taught others how to kill on behalf of their violent extremist ideology. Justice was served with today's life sentence.”

Between December 2013 and March 2019, Asainov provided and conspired to provide material support and resources in the form of personnel, including himself, training and expert advice and assistance, to a foreign terrorist organization, namely ISIS, knowing that ISIS was a designated foreign terrorist organization that had engaged in terrorist activity and terrorism. Asainov also received military-type training from ISIS, in violation of federal law.

On Dec. 24, 2013, Asainov abandoned his wife and daughter in Brooklyn, and boarded a flight at JFK International Airport, bound for Istanbul, Turkey. Along with a co-conspirator, Mirsad Kandic, by early January 2014, Asainov traveled to northern Syria in the area of Aleppo and joined ISIS as a fighter. Kandic was arrested in Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina, convicted of conspiracy to provide material support to ISIS resulting in death by a federal jury in Brooklyn in May 2022, and sentenced to life in prison in July.

Over the course of approximately five years fighting on behalf of ISIS, Asainov fought in numerous battles against ISIS enemies, including engagements at Kobani, Tabqa, Raqqa, Dayr Az Zawr, and ISIS’s last stand in Syria at Baghouz, in March 2019. Asainov received training in how to use automatic rifles, machine guns and rocket-propelled grenades. In Tabqa, in mid-2014, he volunteered to train as a sniper. Over time, Asainov became a sniper trainer or “emir” on behalf of ISIS, estimating that he taught nearly 100 students. A former U.S. Navy SEAL scout sniper testified at Asainov’s trial that the defendant’s sniper training course was consistent with what the former SEAL would expect to be taught in a sniper training program.

From Syria, the defendant attempted to recruit another individual to travel from the United States to Syria to fight for ISIS and sought to obtain funds to purchase a scope for his rifle from the same person. The defendant also told his estranged wife that he was fighting on behalf of ISIS, described by him in a recorded January 2015 voicemail as “the most atrocious terrorist organization in the world that ever existed.” Asainov’s estranged wife testified at his trial that he sent her a photograph of three dead fighters, one of whom was wearing a patch reading, “Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham,” i.e., ISIS, in Arabic script.

Asainov was captured in Syria after ISIS’s last stand at Baghouz, near the Syria-Iraq border. Just before his capture, Asainov discarded his rifle and destroyed his cell phone.

Asainov admitted to agents from the FBI’s Joint Terrorism Task Force that he had fought in numerous battles on behalf of ISIS as a warrior and sniper, serving in several different katibas or ISIS fighting brigades. In recorded phone calls to his mother from facilities operated by the Bureau of Prisons (BOP), the defendant told her that he was carrying out Allah’s orders when he waged jihad and killed for ISIS, that he intended to return to waging jihad if released, and that he would fight until he “meet Allah,” i.e., until his death. In September 2020, staff at a BOP facility confiscated a makeshift ISIS flag affixed to Asainov’s cell wall. The defendant had filled in an 8.5” x 11” sheet of paper with black ink and Arabic writing in the design of the ISIS flag. During his trial, the defendant reiterated his allegiance to ISIS to court personnel, stating that ISIS would rise again.

Assistant U.S. Attorneys Douglas M. Pravda, J. Matthew Haggans, Nicholas J. Moscow and Nina C. Gupta for the Eastern District of New York are in charge of the prosecution, with assistance provided by Trial Attorney Jennifer Levy of the National Security Division’s Counterterrorism Section and Paralegal Specialists Wayne Colon and Mary Clare McMahon.

The Justice Department’s Office of International Affairs, the FBI’s Legal Attachés abroad, and foreign authorities in multiple countries on multiple continents provided critical assistance in this case. The Bosnian and Herzegovinian authorities, and the FBI Legal Attaché Office in Sarajevo provided extraordinary assistance in the investigation and prosecution. The Ministry of Justice for the Republic of Finland, the Stuttgart Police Department and Federal Office of Justice in the Federal Republic of Germany, the Department of Justice & Constitutional Development in the Republic of South Africa, and the Prosecutor General’s Office in Ukraine, and the FBI’s Legal Attaché Offices in or responsible for those countries provided valuable assistance in the investigation.

Updated October 18, 2023
 
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