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Four Moscow terror plotters get long prison terms

Moscow’s District Military Court handed sentences of 15 to 18 years in prison to four defendants found guilty of arms trafficking and hatching a terrorist plot in Moscow

Khismatulla Naimov and Viktor Fedorovich Mikhail Pochuyev/TASS

Khismatulla Naimov and Viktor Fedorovich

© Mikhail Pochuyev/TASS

MOSCOW, May 16. /TASS/. Moscow’s District Military Court handed sentences of 15 to 18 years in prison to four defendants found guilty of arms trafficking and hatching a terrorist plot in Moscow, a TASS correspondent reported.

"Khismatulla Naimov is hereby sentenced to 16 years in a high-security penal colony, Viktor Fedorovich to 18 years, Tamerlan Tsechoyev to 16 years and Abror Khaidarov to 15 years, all also in a high-security penal colony," the presiding judge declared.

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The court announced only the introductory and operative parts of the judgement, so reasons behind the ruling remain unknown. The sentence has not yet entered into force so appeals may be filed with the Russian Supreme Court. The defense attorneys said they would decide on appealing the ruling after studying the verdict.

The state prosecutor earlier requested the court hand the defendants 16-18 year sentences.

The defendants in the case were apprehended in December 2016. According to investigators, they maintained contacts with the international terrorist underground and followed its orders to make improvised explosive devices in order to carry out terrorist attacks in Moscow. Automatic firearms, ammunition, IEDs and a large amount of explosives, sufficient for manufacturing a powerful bomb, were found and seized during searches conducted in the defendants’ places of residence in Moscow and the Moscow region.

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