MOSCOW, August 8 (RAPSI) – Kyrgyzstan native Feruza Inakov has been sentenced to 6 years in a penal colony for recruiting his compatriots for fighting in support of Jabhat al-Nusra and Islamic State (ISIS) terrorist organizations banned in Russia, the United press-service of St. Petersburg courts has told RAPSI.

The Moscow District Military Court has found Inakov guilty of soliciting, recruiting or other involvement of a person for committing terrorist crimes. The defendant denied wrongdoing.

Inakov and seven other persons were arrested after searches conducted by the police, Russia’s National Guard and Federal Security Service (FSB) in St. Petersburg on April 5 and April 6, 2017, two days after a terror attack in St. Petersburg metro. Investigators maintain that the defendants’ activity is not related to the terror attack.

On April 3, 2017, an unknown device exploded in a train between St. Petersburg metro stations Technological Institute and Sennaya Ploshchad. According to law enforcement authorities, 16 people died in the blast including a suicide bomber, over 50 were wounded. 112 persons were acknowledged as victims in the criminal case.