Kazakh National Sentenced In Uzbekistan For Propagating Extremism

TASHKENT -- A court in Uzbekistan has sentenced a Kazakh citizen to five years in jail over alleged Islamic extremism.

Ermek Qosmaghambetov, 27, was found guilty on July 23 by the court in the Tashkent Oblast of "attempted smuggling of materials propagating religious extremism" to Uzbekistan.

Qosmaghambetov and his wife Aqmaral Shakirova were arrested in March as they were crossing the Kazakh-Uzbek border.

Uzbek border guards said they found files with religious content in Qosmaghambetov's portable computer. Shakirova was later released later.

She told RFE/RL on July 24 that her husband plans to appeal the verdict.