A Chechen native has been convicted of texting an ISIS member.

A military court in Rostov-on-Don sentenced a 21-year-old native of Gudermes to a lengthy prison term, finding him a member of the Islamic State* terrorist organization based on a text message.

Imam Islamov was accused of participating in the activities of a terrorist organization (Part 2 of Article 205.5 of the Russian Criminal Code). This article carries a prison sentence of ten to twenty years.

According to the prosecution, Islamov "recorded a text message about voluntarily joining the banned international terrorist organization Islamic State*." He sent the message to a certain member of the terrorist organization, according to a publication on the court's website.

The press service of the Southern District Military Court announced Islamov's sentence today, although it was handed down the day before, on May 4. According to the case file, in which the defendant's name is concealed, the materials were received by the court in March, and five hearings were held in total.

The court sentenced Imam Islamov to 10 years and six months in prison, with the first three years to be served in prison and the remainder of his sentence in a maximum-security penal colony. The only evidence in favor of his involvement with ISIS*, according to the court's press release, was the "text message"; there was no indication that he had committed or planned to commit any other actions. mentioned.

Imam Islamov's details were added to the Rosfinmonitoring register of terrorists and extremists on June 25, 2015. According to the register entry, Islamov was born in August 2004 in Gudermes.

"Caucasian Knot" also reported that a court in Rostov-on-Don in April sentenced Dagestani resident Ramazan Musayev, finding him guilty of inciting terrorism for publishing materials endorsing ISIS*.

* is a terrorist organization banned in Russia.

** The activities of Meta (which owns Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp) are banned in Russia.