Court Case

USA v. Asainov, Ruslan Maratovich

July 2019 (Updated February 8, 2023)
Brooklyn, NY
Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham (ISIS)

[EDNY] Ruslan Maratovich Asainov, a naturalized U.S. citizen born in Kazakhstan, was charged with providing and attempting to provide material support, including training, services and personnel, to the Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham (ISIS). As alleged in the complaint and other court filings, the defendant resided in Brooklyn, New York. In December 2013, the defendant traveled to Istanbul, Turkey. He subsequently entered Syria, joined ISIS, and became a sniper for the terrorist organization. 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. 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 and weapons; receipt of military-type training from ISIS; and obstruction of justice. Asainov was convicted of all five counts of an indictment charging him 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. The jury also found that the defendant's provision of material support to ISIS resulted in the death of one or more persons.

Case Updates

2023-02-08 | American Citizen Convicted of Providing Material Support to ISIS that Resulted in Death and Related Offenses

A federal jury yesterday convicted Ruslan Maratovich Asainov, 46, a U.S. citizen and former resident of Bay Ridge, New York, of all five counts of an indictment charging him 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. The jury also found that the defendant's provision of material support to ISIS resulted in the death of one or more persons. As proven at trial, between December 2013 and March 2019, Asainov provided and conspired to provide material support and resources in the form of personnel, including himself and others, 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. Asainov converted to Islam in 2009 and subsequently became increasingly interested in Islamic extremism. By the fall of 2013, he was consuming radical Islamic content online. He abruptly dropped out of classes at the Borough of Manhattan Community College in September 2013 and began making preparations to travel to Syria to wage violent jihad. 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[s] 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.

Case Documents