[RFE/RL] A court in Kazakhstan has sentenced a man to seven years in prison for joining Daesh in Syria. The court in the northern city of Petropavlovsk sentenced Marat Umirzakov for "joining IS in Syria in order to fight against government forces."The court also found him guilty of "participating in the activities" of a terrorist group.
Prosecutors said Umirzakov traveled to Turkey and illegally crossed into Syria in 2012 where he joined the rebels.
Umirzakov rejected the sentence and vowed to prove his innocence. Umirzakov's lawyer Kuandyk Mukhamediyarov told said that he will appeal the sentence.