Native of Chechnya sentenced in Austria for involvement in IS

A 25-year-old native of Chechnya with refugee status in Austria has been sentenced to imprisonment for involvement in the hostilities in Syria on the side of the terrorist organization "Islamic State" (IS), banned in Russia, the Austrian Press Agency reports.

For several years, the native of Chechnya lived in the city of Bregenz. He has confessed that in the period from October 2013 to March of 2014, he was involved in the hostilities in Syria. According to him, he did not know that he was fighting on the side of a terrorist grouping, the Austrian Press Agency reports.

The hearing in court lasted almost five hours. The prosecutors argued that the native of Chechnya had been trained and fought in Syria on the side of the militants and then returned to Austria in March 2014. The defender claimed that in Syria, he entered in the organization, which was not a terrorist grouping, the "Kommersant" reports on February 27 with reference to the "Kurier".

The Regional Court of the Austrian city of Feldkirch has decided that the native of Chechnya was a member of a militants' squad led by the terrorist organization "Islamic State", banned in Russia by court and involved in the combat actions against the government troops. The Court sentenced the native of Chechnya to 2.5 years of imprisonment.

Full text of the article is available on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’.