The leader of an extremist group that carried out so-called "Sharia patrols" targeting people suspected of drinking alcohol in Russia's Kabardino-Balkarian Republic has been sentenced to four years and three months in a penal colony.
The man and 16 other members of the organisation were sentenced by a Russian district court for conducting illegal investigations into citizens they suspected of behaviour that conflicted with their religious beliefs.
Those targeted by the group were assaulted and forced to publicly apologise and promise to change their lifestyles in accordance with the organisation's extremist principles.
The group operated in the North Caucasus republic between March 2023 and August 2024 before being stopped by law enforcement authorities.
The Cherek District Court of the Kabardino-Balkarian Republic found the group's leader guilty of creating an extremist community.
In addition to his prison term, he was banned for two years from leading or participating in religious organisations.
The remaining defendants were found guilty of participating in an extremist religious community and received sentences ranging from two years to 10 months in penal colonies. All defendants admitted their guilt.
The Kabardino-Balkarian Republic, a mountainous North Caucasus region north of Georgia, was a centre of Islamic insurgency in Russia during the early 2000s.
By the early 2010s, however, Russian security operations had significantly weakened the insurgency. Other militants left the region to fight alongside ISIS in the Syrian Civil War.
Despite this, the region has continued to witness occasional outbreaks of extremist activity. In 2024, gunmen opened fire on security forces during a counter-terrorism operation in Nalchik, the capital of Kabardino-Balkaria.
In the same year, Russian security services arrested 15 suspected members of another extremist organisation in the Kabardino-Balkarian Republic.
The suspects were accused of disseminating radical Islamist ideology and coercing others to join the organisation under threat of violence.
The Muslim-majority Kabardino-Balkarian Republic is home to around 910,000 people.
Leaders of countries from the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) have agreed to hold coordinated population censuses around 2030. They took t...
Saudi Arabia has restored its vital East-West oil pipeline to near-full capacity, but escalating Houthi attacks on energy facilities, airports and ...
Here's your AnewZ Daily Brief for 9 October 2026 with five key developments from the CIS summit in Turkmenistan....
Leaders of countries from the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) have agreed to hold coordinated population censuses around 2030. They took the decision at the CIS Council of Heads of State meeting in Awaza, Turkmenistan on Friday, media reported.
The Saudi-led coalition says it has carried out a series of military operations against Houthi targets in Yemen after attacks on two Saudi airports left three people dead and dozens injured.
Azerbaijan and the five Central Asian states have signed two key documents at the 8th Consultative Meeting of Heads of State in Turkmenbashi, formalising a broader framework for regional cooperation in transport, trade, energy, digitalisation and security.
It started with classrooms. Too many students, not enough teachers, deteriorating buildings and growing anxiety over what comes after high school. But within weeks, a movement that began outside French lycées had spread across the country.
Britain and Israel have reached a temporary compromise over the future of the British Consulate General in East Jerusalem, easing a diplomatic dispute that had threatened to further strain relations between the two countries.
South African judge Navanethem “Navi” Pillay won the Nobel Peace Prize on Friday “for her efforts to promote peace and international law,” the Norwegian Nobel Committee said.
The Pentagon says it will livestream the execution of former U.S. Army psychiatrist Nidal Hasan, who was sentenced to death for killing 13 people at Fort Hood, Texas, in 2009. It would be the first publicly livestreamed execution in U.S. history.
U.S. federal immigration agents shot and wounded a man in a car with a five-year-old boy inside in New York City’s Bronx neighbourhood on Thursday, city officials, police and witnesses say.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has sharply criticised the United States following a series of Russian attacks that killed more than 70 people over two days, arguing that Washington is not doing enough to help Kyiv counter Moscow's continued assault.
Britain and Israel have reached a temporary compromise over the future of the British Consulate General in East Jerusalem, easing a diplomatic dispute that had threatened to further strain relations between the two countries.
You can download the AnewZ application from Play Store and the App Store.
What is your opinion on this topic?
Leave the first comment