ALEXANDRIA, Va. — In what is said to be the first case of its kind, a former Soviet officer who converted to Islam before going to fight in Afghanistan faces a trial starting Monday in Richmond.
The charges against him range from providing material support to terrorists and attempting to kill Americans on behalf of the Taliban, to conspiracy to use a weapon of mass destruction.
The case against Irek Hamidullin, 55, is unique because he is a Russian, not an American, citizen who was captured on the battlefield. There have not been any other civil trials for so-called unlawful enemy combatants who are not American citizens.
American John Walker Lindh did admit to similar charges in a federal court in Alexandria in 2002.
Hamidullin’s lawyers unsuccessfully asked the judge to dismiss the case both because Hamidullin was fighting as a soldier would, and because he was held in Afghanistan for five years before being brought to the United States for trial last year.
Hamidullin is accused of being a commander for a group affiliated with the Taliban — a group he joined around 2001. The charges in this case relate to the Nov. 29, 2009 attack where he was captured.
He is accused of leading a group in an attack on Afghan police, then the Americans who came to help.
The Richmond Times-Dispatch reports Hamidullin, who has also said his name is spelled Khamidullah, was a tank commander for the U.S.S.R. in the 1980s.
The trial could last a week.
If convicted, Hamidullin could face life in prison.
