Uzbek national Zomonbek Nishanbayev has been sentenced to nine months in a penal settlement for participation in a radical Islamic political movement, the website of the Russian Prosecutor General’s Office said on Thursday.
The 32-year-old man was detained in March 2011, when he was distributing magazines issued by the secretive sectarian group Hizb ut-Tahrir al-Islami (Islamic Party of Liberation) at a Moscow market. Russia designated Hizb ut-Tahrir a terrorist organization in 2003.
Given the time Nishanbayev has already served in pretrial detention, he is now due for release, rights center Sova has claimed.
Hizb ut-Tahrir al-Islami seeks 'implementation of pure Islamic doctrine' and the creation of an Islamic caliphate in Central Asia. The ultimate goal is to unite the entire Islamic community in a single caliphate and have Muslims return to an Islamic way of life.
