UFA -- Three historians, a businessman, and an on-line journalist in Russia’s Republic of Bashkortostan have been given suspended jail terms for extremist activities.
The five were charged with extremism in 2010 after they posted on the Internet materials calling for the creation of an administrative district -- called Ufimskaya guberniya -- that would replace the Republic of Bashkortostan.
Materials were also published in which Bashkortostan's indigenous people, the Bashkirs, were depicted as an uncultured group devoted to resisting Russian dominance.
The court in the city of Ufa ruled that the appeal was an attempt to overthrow by force the government of Bashkortostan.
The court gave the defendants suspended jail terms of between one and four years.
The defendants say they will appeal the verdicts.
The five were charged with extremism in 2010 after they posted on the Internet materials calling for the creation of an administrative district -- called Ufimskaya guberniya -- that would replace the Republic of Bashkortostan.
Materials were also published in which Bashkortostan's indigenous people, the Bashkirs, were depicted as an uncultured group devoted to resisting Russian dominance.
The court in the city of Ufa ruled that the appeal was an attempt to overthrow by force the government of Bashkortostan.
The court gave the defendants suspended jail terms of between one and four years.
The defendants say they will appeal the verdicts.