MOSCOW, April 29 (RAPSI) – A court in Russia's southern Stavropol region sentenced a local resident to three years in prison for joining militants in Syria, RIA Novosti reported on Wednesday, citing the Stavropol Territory’s prosecutor’s office.

“The court found that Kurban Djamaldinov participated in a conflict in a foreign country, Syria, from November 14, 2013 to mid-January 2014 as a member of an illegal armed group,” the statement says.

In March, the Moscow District Military Court sentenced Ravil Abdullov, from the republic of Mordovia in central Russia, to five years in prison and fined him 200,000 rubles ($3,800) for assisting Syrian militants.

The Prosecutor General’s Office holds that between February 23 and April 2, 2014, Abdullov collected money to purchase firearms at the request of a relative who is a member of an illegal armed group that is fighting Syrian government forces. The defendant collected over $1,300, which he handed over to his relative.

According to the UN, over 200,000 people have died in Syria since an armed conflict flared up there in March 2011. Government forces are fighting a number of militant groups. The most active of them are from the Islamic State and Jabhat al-Nusra.