Belarusian Immigrant Indicted For Attempting to Join ISIS

Jerusalem, 27 December, 2017 (TPS) -- Vladmir Mazlevski, a Belarusian who made Aliya in 1996 and later converted to Islam was indicted Wednesday at the Nazareth regional court for attempting to join ISIS.

Mazlevski was charged with contact with a foreign agent, attempting to travel to a hostile country, and obstruction of justice.

According to the indictment, Mazlevski was a member of a message board called “Caliphate”, which consisted of Russian speaking supporters of ISIS. He expressed his interest in joining Islamic State on the board and an ISIS operative contacted him, instructing him to travel to Turkey, where he would receive assistance in crossing the border to Syria.

Mazlevski purchased a one-way ticket to Turkey in January of 2016, but was barred from leaving the country after arousing the suspicion of the security guards at Ben Gurion Airport.

Mazlevski returned to his home in the northern Arab Israeli town of Shibli–Umm al-Ghanam, where he continued to make contact with ISIS operatives both in Israel and abroad, as well as joining various message boards and frequently watching sermons and propaganda spread by the terror organization.

At one point, Mazlevski was in contact online with a Chechen Muslim, who instructed him to erase all ISIS related material from his computer and mobile phone in order to cover up his intent to join the Islamic State.

However, Mazlevski did not heed the Chechen’s warning, and continued to express interest in ISIS. In July of 2016, Mazlevski was summoned to an interrogation by Israeli security forces, who had been watching Mazlevski since his original attempt to leave the country. During the interrogation, it was made clear to Mazlevski that the Islamic State is an illegal organization.

The interrogation left Mazlevski undeterred, and three months later, he made online contact with a man who called himself Abu Abdallah, who also expressed interest in joining the Islamic State. A month later, he was in contact with a man who went by the nickname Abu Ruchan, who was supposedly an ISIS operative in the Sinai. A short while later, Mazlevski was arrested, with the state prosecutor requesting that he remain in custody until the end of his trial.