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Ruslan Maratovich Asainov, 47, reportedly grinned, stroked what is now a thick beard and flashed a thumbs-up sign during the sentencing in U.S. Court for the Eastern District of New York in Brooklyn on Oct. 17.
There was no surprise there: To the end, Asainov proclaimed his pride in fighting with ISIS and teaching young student militants in Syria to kill for their beliefs.
“He chose to embrace killing as both a means and an end,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Matthew Haggans said during Tuesday's sentencing. “He holds on to that foul cause today.”
Indeed, his court-appointed attorney said Asainov -- also known on the battlefield as “Suleiman Al-Amriki” and “Suleiman Al-Kazakhi" -- wouldn't seek leniency by distancing himself from the extremist group.
He's not shown “an iota of remorse, doubt, or self-reflection on past mistakes," federal prosecutors wrote in their sentencing memo to U.S. District Court Judge Nicholas Garaufis.
Garaufis, who presided over the trial, agreed.
“It's hard for the court to have any understanding or sympathy for what we have seen in this trial,” the judge said.
The Kazakhstan-born Asainov became a United States citizen aad in 2009 converted to Islam.
He was living in Bay Ridge, Brooklyn with his wife and young daughter when he dropped out of Manhattan Community College, ditched his stockbroker job and caught a one-way flight to Syria in late 2013, federal authorities said.
Asainov learned to use machine guns, automatic rifles and rocket-propelled grenades as part of Navy SEAL-type training, they said.
Asainov trained as a sniper, participated in key battles against ISIS enemies in what the U.S. government called a "bloody, brutal campaign" and became an "emir" (or chief), teaching more than 100 snipers through a Navy-SEAL type course, the government said.
Syrian Democratic Forces captured Asainov and others at what became the Islamic State group’s last stand in the tiny Syrian village of Baghouz, near the Iraqi border, in 2019.
Asainov -- who'd tossed his rifle and destroyed his cellphone just before his capture -- was promptly turned over to U.S. authorities.
Asainov sat through the entire trial, refusing to participate or even stand for the judge or jurors.
Those jurors convicted him following a three-week trial in February of providing material support to a foreign terrorist organization and causing at least one death, among other offenses.
Mirsad Kandic, of Brooklyn, who recruited Asainov and others, was also sentenced to life in federal prison this summer.
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