Tajik national has got a lengthy jail term to an attempt to travel to Syria to join the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) extremist group.
A court in Dushanbe’s Ismoili Somoni district sentenced M. Butayev to 12½ years in prison on April 4. The sentenced followed his conviction on charges of preparation for a crime and criminal attempt (Article 32 (3) of Tajikistan’s Penal Code) and mercenary activities (Article 401 (1) of Tajikistan’s Penal Code).
Butayev will serve his term in a high-security penal colony.
The Prosecutor-General’s Office says Butayev last year traveled to the Russian Federation seeking better employment opportunities. While in the Russian city of Samara, he reportedly became acquainted with one of activists of the ISIS group, Mohammad Muaviya, through the “Guide to Islamic State” program on Zello, which is used by Islamic extremists. Butayev accepted his invitation to travel to Syria to fight alongside ISIS militants.
Butayev was detained by Russian law enforcement officers at the Samara airport and extradited to the Tajik authorities.
Recall, another Tajik man has been sentenced to 15 years in jail for recruiting fighters for the ISIS extremist group.
Radio Liberty reports a court in Dushanbe on March 30 found Jovidon Hakimov, 29, guilty of organizing a criminal group and recruiting Tajik citizens to the ranks of ISIS militants fighting in Syria and Iraq. The court sentenced him the same day.
Hakimov’s lawyer and relatives said they will appeal the ruling.
Hakimov claimed earlier that his confession of trying to recruit fighters for the Islamic State (IS) extremist group was obtained under duress. According to him, he had been severely beaten by police officers who interrogated him after his arrest in January.
Several police officers who testified at the Dushanbe court hearing rejected Hakimov’s claims.
Hakimov’s lawyer, Ms. Muhabbat Usmonova, said the court has rejected a request from Hakimov's lawyers for him to undergo a medical test to examine the alleged mistreatment.
Prosecutors alleged Hakimov was “in regular telephone contact” in 2013 with his brother Abdujalil Hakimov and their neighbor Nusrat Nazarov, who they say were fighting alongside ISIS militants in Iraq at the time, according to Radio Liberty. Abdujalil Hakimov is believed to have been killed in fighting in Iraq.
Tajik authorities say some 1,100 Tajik nationals have joined IS militants in the Middle East, with most of them recruited in Russia, which hosts hundreds of thousands of Tajik migrant workers.
