DUSHANBE, November 21 (RIA Novosti) – A member of the outlawed Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan (IMU) was sentenced on Wednesday to 12 years in a Tajikistan prison, the country’s Supreme Court announced on Wednesday.
Azamat Elmurzayev, a 24-year-old Tajik citizen, was arrested last summer while attempting to illegally cross the Afghan-Tajik border, the Supreme Court's press service said.
Investigators found that Elmurzayev fought alongside the Taliban against NATO forces in Afghanistan from August 2010 to February 2011.
They also found that Elmurzayev underwent training in Pakistan last year, after which he joined the IMU and was sent to Afghanistan.
Originally created in Uzbekistan in the early 1990s, the IMU has since expanded, observers say, to operate in several other Central Asian countries, including Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Kazakhstan.
The group is officially recognized as a terrorist organization by Russia, the United States, Canada, and other countries.
Movement leaders and members are believed to play an active role in the fight against NATO forces in Afghanistan, as well as in violent anti-government operations in Pakistan.
