OSH. March 17 (Interfax) - Two men have been convicted in the Kara-Suu district of southern Kyrgyzstan's Osh region for fighting for the extremists in Syria.
The fighters were given a sentence of five years and nine months, a source in the Kyrgyz law enforcement authorities told Interfax on Tuesday.
"Both men are natives of the village of Kashkar-Kyshtak in the Kara-Suu district. They have been seized in their home village after they returned from the war in Syria and tried to recruit their fellow villagers," the source said.
In all, the police of southern Kyrgyzstan have opened several criminal inquiries on the counts of mercenary practices. He added that the cases differed by types.
A man was sentenced to four years in prison in the Bazar-Korgon district of the Jalal-Abad region early this year for being a member of a terrorist group recruiting fighters for the war in Syria.
According to official statistical reports of the Kyrgyz Interior Ministry, 230 citizens of Kyrgyzstan are now fighting in Syria, and 30 of them, including two women, have been killed there.