KHUJAND, November 3, 2011, Asia-Plus — The Sughd regional court yesterday sentenced three local men to lengthy prison terms after finding them guilty of membership in the banned Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan (IMU).
Judge Anvar Temourov, who presided over the trail, told Asia-Plus today that Akpar Niyazov, 29, and Jamshed Mousoyev, 30, were sentenced to nine years in prison each, while Khairullo Shukrullo, 20, got a jail term of eight years. The court also ruled that they will serve their terms in a high-security penal colony. The sentence reportedly followed their conviction on the charge of organizing a criminal group (Article 187 (2) of Tajikistan’s Penal Code).
According to the judge, they allegedly joined the IMU’s cell in Istaravshan voluntarily in 2006-2007. Officers from the Istaravshan police station detained them in July 2011 and handed over them to the State Committee for National (SCNS)’s office for Sughd province.
According the Sughd police directorate, 33 members of IMU and seven members of the outlawed religious extremist Hizb ut-Tahrir group have been detained in the province over the first nine months of this year.
