A court in Russia has jailed a native of the North Caucasus region of Ingushetia on terrorism-related charges.
The North Caucasus regional court in Rostov-on-Don on August 14 sentenced Abdul-Malik Albakchiyev to nine years in prison after finding him guilty of fighting alongside the Islamic State (IS) extremist group in Syria and illegal explosives possession.
The court's spokeswoman, Alyona Katkalo, told reporters that Albakchiyev was arrested in March 2015 on his arrival to Russia from Syria, were the Russian authorities say he fought against the government for several weeks.
Albakchiyev pleaded not guilty to the charges.
Ingushetia is located in the volatile, mostly Muslim-populated North Caucasus.
The two post-Soviet separatist wars in the neighboring region of Chechnya have spawned an Islamist insurgency across much of the North Caucasus.
Russia estimates some 2,000 citizens, mostly from the North Caucasus, have fought alongside IS in Syria.
