A court in Russia's Bashkortostan region has sentenced a resident of the republic to four years and five months in a penal colony for fund-raising for the Islamic State (IS) group.
The defendant was named in local media on March 2 as 34-year-old Radik Gilvanov from Sibay in southeastern Bashkortostan.
According to the Federal Security Service (FSB) in Bashkortostan, in 2013 the security authorities in the republic uncovered a fund-raising channel that was raising finances for IS militants in Syria. The person behind the fund-raising efforts was an individual from Sibay, the authorities found.
Gilvanov allegedly raised the money from Russian citizens in Sibay via an international banking card, the FSB said. The defendant told those from whom he raised the money that he was asking for donations to help Muslims. Gilvanov raised about 90,000 rubles ($1,447) in total, according to the FSB.
However, the FSB said that during the investigation Gilvanov was found to be aware that he was in fact helping to finance militants who were advocating fighting to establish a global "caliphate" and that the money would be used to purchase "weapons, ammunition, and clothing."
Gilvanov pleaded guilty in court, according to the Ufa Daily website.
Gilvanov's conviction comes after Russia's Supreme Court ruled in December to designate the IS group an illegal terrorist organization. Last week, the FSB included the group on a "unified list" of 22 groups that the security service considers to be terrorist organizations.
Gilvanov's conviction also comes after reports earlier this month that security officials in Bashkortostan had broken up the cell of a banned Islamic group, the Hizb ut-Tahrir organization, a sign of a crackdown in the region against groups deemed to be terrorist organizations. Hizb ut-Tahrir was also included in the FSB's "unified list" of terrorist groups.
-- Joanna Paraszczuk