MOSCOW, March 15 (RAPSI) - The Russian Supreme Court on Tuesday reduced by six months the sentence for Syrian national Al Sali Ayoan who had been found guilty of participation in a terrorist organization, RAPSI reports from the courtroom.

In October 2015, the Moscow District Military Court sentenced Ayoan, 33, to 6.5 years in prison for fraud, theft and participation in Hizb ut-Tahrir al-Islami organization that had been banned in Russia.

Earlier, the Interior Ministry of the Republic of Tatarstan reported that a foreign citizen had been arrested on suspicion of taking over 1 million rubles ($14,300) from a local woman under the pretence of opening a halal cafe.

Hizb ut-Tahrir (the Party of Islamic Liberation), founded in Jerusalem in 1953, is banned in several Arab and Central Asian countries. Russia's Supreme Court banned the group from operating on the territory of the country in 2003, describing it as a terrorist organization.

Hizb ut-Tahrir members are regularly arrested by the police across Russia, mainly in big cities in central Russia, the Volga region and Siberia. Also, there are many supporters in Crimea, which rejoined Russia last spring.