ST. PETERSBURG, August 30 (RAPSI) - Kyrgyz native Azizbek Rustamov has been sentenced to 6 years in prison for propagating radical Islam and recruiting new members for the Islamic State and Jabhat al-Nusra terrorist organizations banned in Russia, RAPSI has learnt in the Moscow District Military Court.

The defendant is the brother of another Kyrgyz native Atabek Rustamov involved in the case.

According to case papers, in August 2016, two Kyrgyz natives Atabek Rustamov and Uula Islambek Oibek attempted to recruit the terrorist organizations through WhatsApp messenger. 

The WhatsApp chats contained videos and messages propagating radical Islam and calling for using force against non-Islamic people, committing terrorist attacks and participating in warfare on the side of the Islamic State militants. 

Eight persons including the brothers were arrested in St. Petersburg on suspicion of aiding and abetting terrorism on April 5, 2017.

In early August, Feruza Inakov received 6 years in a penal colony. Oibek was also convicted and sentenced.  Several other men were charged with failure to report to the police that they were being recruited to the terrorist organizations.