Tajik citizen sentenced to 16 years in jail for recruiting youngsters to ISIL in Russia
DUSHANBE. Oct 19 (Interfax) - A resident of the Spitamen district of the Sughd region in northern Tajikistan has been sentenced to 16 years in jail for fighting for ISIL in Syria and recruiting youngsters to the terrorist organization in Russia.
The 29-year-old convict went to Syria in February 2013 and joined Jabhat al-Nusra, a terrorist group connected to Al-Qaeda that was an ally of ISIL at that time, a representative of the Sughd Regional Court said. The man received military and psychological training and went to Russia to recruit young men to ISIL.
The extremist was caught by Russian police in January 2015 when he attempted to leave Russia for Ukraine and was extradited to Tajikistan.
Jabhat al-Nusra and ISIL split in February 2014, which led to armed clashes between them.
According to official statistics, about 500 citizens of Tajikistan are fighting for extremist groups in Syria and dozens have been killed in hostilities.