WASHINGTON (Sputnik) — Former Russian army tank commander Irek Ilgiz Hamidullin was sentenced to life in prison and 30 more years for leading a Taliban group to attack US and Afghan soldiers, the US Department of Justice announced in a statement following the verdict.
"Irek Hamidullin has been sentenced to life in prison for his role in orchestrating and conducting a violent attack on Afghan and US forces in Afghanistan in 2009, and conspiring to kill members of the US military," Assistant Attorney General Carlin said in a statement on Thursday.
Hamidullin’s sentence comes after a federal jury convicted him in August and found him guilty of all 15 terrorism-related counts, after he led a group of fighters in an attack approved by the Taliban on a post in Afghanistan in 2009.
Hamidullin reportedly joined the Taliban in 2001 and by 2009 had commanded a group of insurgents operating in Afghanistan, the Justice Department said.
