A court in Russia has sentenced a Kyrgyz-born Russian citizen to seven years in jail for fighting alongside terrorists in Syria.
The Moscow Military Regional Court at the trial held in St. Petersburg, on February 16, found Islamzhon Zakhidov guilty of joining the Al-Nusra Front terrorist group, currently known as Jabhat al-Sham, in Syria, and sentenced him the same day.
Zakhidov, 19, pleaded guilty and said he had joined terrorists in Syria as a 17-year-old in 2015 after his father invited him there.
In June 2016, he managed to escape from his father in Syria and returned to his mother in St. Petersburg, where he was arrested.
Russian officials have said that at least 5,000 Russian citizens and nationals of other former Soviet republics have traveled to Syria and Iraq to join the Islamic State group and other terrorist organizations.
