MOSCOW, February 9 (RAPSI) – Russia’s Supreme Court has upheld a 6-year prison term and a 55,800-ruble ($938) fine given to Marcel Gabbasov for participating in activities of Hizb ut-Tahrir terrorist organization banned in Russia, RAPSI learnt from the court’s press service on Thursday.

The court thus dismissed an appeal filed by Gabbasov against the Privolzhsky District Military Court’s judgment issued on October 31, 2016. The sentence has become effective.

Gabbasov has been earlier convicted of other extremist crimes. In 2014, a court in Nizhnevartovsk found him guilty of organizing the activities of a prohibited organization, incitement of hatred and enmity and sentenced him to 6 months of community service. The man was also fined 100,000 rubles. According to investigators, Gabbasov, an active Hizb ut-Tahrir member, has carried on propaganda among citizens of Nizhnevartovsk.

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.