ROSTOV-ON-DON. Feb 9 (Interfax) - The North Caucasus Military District Court in Rostov-on-Don has convicted six residents of Karachayevo-Cherkessia for participating in an illegal armed formation, court spokeswoman Alyona Katkalo told Interfax.
"The defendants were given sentences ranging from 8.5 years to 17 years in prison, depending on the role of each of them," Katkalo said.
Lilit Khoziyeva will serve her 8.5-year sentence in a standard-security penitentiary, while the other convicts will serve their terms in high-security prisons, she said.
They faced charges of "establishing and participating in an illegal armed formation," "illegal acquisition, transfer, sale, storage, transportation, or possession of weapons," "theft or extortion of nuclear materials or radioactive substances," and "organizing and participating in a terrorist organization's activities."
A preliminary inquiry showed that the defendants - A. Bendenko, A. Sapigulayev, B. Khabibov, R. Saipudinov, L. Khoziyeva, and M. Paunezhev - maintained radical views and contacts with the ISIL terrorist organization (banned in Russia).
Bendenko sought to destabilize the socio-political situation by forming a group to carry out sabotage, terrorism, and armed attacks on law enforcement officers, which the other defendants then joined.
Automatic weapons, ammunition, explosives, camouflage uniforms, and a video of the group pledging loyalty to ISIL were seized from the defendants.