Kyrgyz court gives 6-year suspended sentence to 18-year-old recruiter of Syria terrorist fighters
OSH. Dec 14 (Interfax) - The Osh City Court in Kyrgyzstan has handed down a six-year suspended sentence to an 18-year-old Kyrgyz national for recruiting Syria terrorist fighters.
"The 18-year-old native of the Kara-Sui district of the Osh region has been given a six-year suspended sentence for recruiting extremists for hostilities in Syria's territory," the Osh City Court told Interfax on Wednesday.
"While delivering the verdict, the judge took into account the young age of the defendant and the absence of earlier convictions," a court representative said.
The police apprehended the convict in late summer, when he was meeting with a victim, he said. Detectives proved that the convict engaged in correspondence with potential victims and urged them to join the hostilities in Syria. He was sending extremist audio and video files through a messenger service.
"Detectives said he was also in correspondence with militants in Syria and was promising to join them soon," the court representative said.
Many Kyrgyz citizens who have left for Syria were born in the Kara-Sui district, the police said.
The State Committee for National Security suspects the ringleader of the Jamaat al-Tawhid wal-Jihad terrorist group, Sirojiddin Mukhtarov (aka Abu Saloh) born in the Kara-Sui district of the Osh region, of being an organizer of the terror attack on the Chinese Embassy in Bishkek in late summer.
Mukhtarov was put on the international wanted list.
A suicide bomber blew himself up on the premises of the Chinese Embassy in Bishkek on August 30 after his vehicle had rammed the Embassy gate. Two Embassy employees were lightly injured.