MOSCOW, February 15. /TASS/. The Moscow Garrison Military Court has sentenced nine defendants from Central Asian republics detained in Moscow in December 2016 for their involvement in a terrorist organization to prison sentences from 11 to 16 years, one of the defendant’s lawyers told TASS on Friday.

The court sentenced three defendants to 16 years behind bars, one to 12 years, and the rest to 11 years, the lawyer informed.

The court proceedings began in November 2018. Earlier, three of the defendants who pleaded guilty received prison sentences from 10 to 12 years.

On December 7, 2016, Moscow’s Meshchansky Court arrested 12 people on charges of participation in the terror organization Hizb ut-Tahrir, which is outlawed in Russia. The press service of the Moscow police head office reported that the detained were the organizers and active participants of the terror organization. According to preliminary information, they organized propaganda to involve citizens in the activity of the extremist organization outlawed in Russia. The defendants admitted to their participation in Hizb ut-Tahrir’s activity, but do not consider the organization a terrorist one.

Hizb ut-Tahrir al-Islami (the Party of Islamic Liberation) is an international religious and political organization founded in 1953. Its goal is to remove all non-Islamic governments and bring back Muslims to the "truly Islamic way of life."

Russia’s Supreme Court banned Hizb ut-Tahrir in 2003 designating it as a terrorist organization.