Alleged Islamic State sniper trial looks at foreign fighters
BY JENNIFER PELTZ
Associated Press
NEW YORK (AP) — The ongoing trial of a U.S. citizen charged with serving as a sniper and weapons trainer for the Islamic State group is a reminder of the enduring and far-reaching fallout of a war that drew tens of thousands of foreign fighters to Syria and Iraq. Jurors are expected to start deliberating as soon as Monday in Ruslan Maratovich Asainov’s trial in a federal court in New York. In videos shown at trial, he gives his occupation as “a sniper” to FBI agents and tells them that he taught his students everything from rifle maintenance to ballistics. His lawyers have said he went to Syria in 2013 because he wanted to live under Islamic law.
