(ITAR-TASS)
PRAGUE, September 6, 2006 (RFE/RL) -- The Russian Prosecutor-General's Office today said that a court in Barnaul, the main city of Siberia's Altai Krai, has sentenced a Kyrgyz national to nine years in prison on drug-trafficking charges.
It was not immediately clear when the verdict was reached.
The Prosecutor-General's Office said in a statement that Nurmanbek Niyazaliev, a conductor of the Bishkek-Novokuznetsk passenger train, was arrested in October 2005 after he had dropped a bag that contained 1.2 kilograms of hashish hidden in match boxes.
The Barnaul district court has ruled that Niyazaliev should serve his sentence in a high-security prison colony and pay the Russian state a $19,000 fine.
The court has also sentenced Niazaliev's accomplice, Igor Shcherbakov, to eight years in jail and a similar fine.
The Prosecutor-General's Office said in a statement that Nurmanbek Niyazaliev, a conductor of the Bishkek-Novokuznetsk passenger train, was arrested in October 2005 after he had dropped a bag that contained 1.2 kilograms of hashish hidden in match boxes.
The Barnaul district court has ruled that Niyazaliev should serve his sentence in a high-security prison colony and pay the Russian state a $19,000 fine.
The court has also sentenced Niazaliev's accomplice, Igor Shcherbakov, to eight years in jail and a similar fine.