[RFE/RL] A court in Astana, the Kazakh capital, has sentenced a local resident to nine months in prison for his membership in a banned Islamist group. The Sary Arqa District Court on June 2 found Murat Taqaumov guilty of being a member of the Tablighi Jamaat and sentenced him the same day. Taqaumov pleaded not guilty and promised to appeal the sentence.In February, the same court found five local residents guilty of being members of the same group and sentenced them to prison terms of between 1 and 2 years.
Tablighi Jamaat is officially banned in Kazakhstan, Russia, Uzbekistan, and Tajikistan.