KHUJAND, Tajikistan -- A court in Tajikistan's northern Sughd Province has begun trying two suspected terrorists, RFE/RL's Tajik Service reports.
Provincial Judge Farhod Ziyodulloev told RFE/RL that Qudratullo Nematulloev and Abdulsami Nurmuhammadi are accused of several crimes, including terrorism, murder, and plotting against the state.
Rauf Yusufov, the head of the local branch of the Interior Ministry, told RFE/RL that Nematulloev was detained in Moscow and extradited to Tajikistan earlier this year.
Nurmuhammadi was detained in his home city of Isfara this summer. His lawyer, Jamshed Saburov, says his client joined the terrorist Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan (IMU) without knowing its goals but, after learning about the movement's ideology, left it.
Saburov said Nurmuhammadi never took part in any IMU operations. Nematulloev's lawyer, Anvar Nurmuhammadov, says his client has pleaded guilty to some charges.
Some 30 people in the Isfara region have been arrested and sentenced for being members of the IMU, which Tajikistan has categorized as a terrorist organization since 2005.