Azerbaijan, Baku, July 6 /Trend, K.Zarbaliyeva/
The court sentenced an Azerbaijani citizen, accused of cooperation with Al Qaeda, to 15 years in prison.
During the trial held on Wednesday, a guilty verdict was read to a resident of Gusar district Rahim Salmanov, according to which he was sentenced to 15 years in prison, a source at Baku Court on Heinous Crimes told Trend.
Salmanov is accused of article 126.3 (intentional inflicting grievous body harm, harm that is dangerous to human life or which entailed loss of vision, hearing, speech, or of any body organ or loss of its function, mental illness or other disability, long-term loss of functional capacity not less than one-third or total incapacity, or termination of pregnancy, or injury), article 29 (criminal attempt), article 278 (seizure of power or forcible retention of power), article 279 (establishment of illegal armed groups) and article 283 (inciting national, racial or religious hatred) of the Criminal Code of Azerbaijan.
According to the indictment, Rahim Salmanov has been wanted in Gusar region since 2002. In 2006 he was arrested in Dagestan and extradited to Azerbaijan. Members of the gang, which consisted of 15 people - citizens of Azerbaijan, Russia, Turkey and Yemen, which also included Haji Dzhankayev, were members of religious organizations, "Revival of Islamic Heritage" community, Al Qaeda and were trained in camps in the Pankisi Gorge in Georgia.
Gang members were accused of committing terrorist acts, illegal purchase and possession of weapons and ammunition, the murder of a policeman of Nizami district police department Movlan Alibeyov and other serious crimes.
For these crimes, Arif Hajiyev, head of the gang, was sentenced to life imprisonment, Emil Akhverdiyev was sentenced to 10 years imprisonment, Hamdan Mohammed Ahmed Salem, Haji Dzhankayev, Abdulla Abdulkerimov and Shirin Aliyev - to seven years, Aslan Bekirov, Isa Islamov, Karanay Abdulhamidov, Arsen Gaziyev, Dzhembek Asadullayev, Mustafa Delibashlar, Inan Ahmed, Khayal Selcuk Hosni, Hasan Agayev and Karakash Juma Shyhimam - to five years.
The last member of the gang Rahim Salmanov was sentenced by the Court on Heinous Crimes to 15 years imprisonment in 2008. But in the higher courts, the verdict on Rahim Salmanov was canceled and the case was again referred to the court.