Russian Court Sentences Man From Orenburg Region For Joining IS

The Moscow Regional Military Court has sentenced a man from the Orenburg region to 5 1/2 years in prison on terrorism charges.

Court officials said on April 28 that the Azerbaijan-born Russian citizen, Murad Nadzhafov, was found guilty of participating in militant activities as part of the group that calls itself Islamic State (IS).

The trial was held in the city of Ufa, the capital of Russia's mainly Muslim-populated region of Bashkortostan.

Nadzhafov pleaded guilty. He was arrested in Ufa in 2015 after Turkey deported him to Russia for violating immigration regulations.

The Orenburg region, where Nadzhafov lived before he traveled to Syria, is between Kazakhstan and Russia's Bashkortostan region.

Russian officials have said that at least 5,000 citizens of Russia and other former Soviet republics have traveled to Syria and Iraq to join IS militants.

Based on reporting by TASS and Interfax