19-year-old resident of Nurabad district of Samarkand province was sentenced to three years of imprisonment on Distributing materials of religious extremist content charge, the Sevimli TV channel reported Sunday.
According to the case, the young man created a group in the Telegram messenger, where he posted religious chants downloaded from the Internet for a year and a half. Allegedly they contained extremist and radical ideas.
“I heard these chants on different channels. I appreciated them, and I uploaded them to the group without understanding their meaning. I don’t know Arabic at all, I only liked the melodies,” the accused said in court.
Five religious chants were found in the group that the young man managed. An investigation found that all of them were sent to the group from his phone.
The defendant asked for a lenient sentence, repenting of his actions. The court found him guilty under Manufacturing or storage for the purpose of dissemination of materials containing ideas of religious extremism, separatism and fundamentalism, calls for pogroms or forced eviction of citizens or aimed at creating panic among the public, as well as manufacturing, storage for the purpose of dissemination or display of attributes or symbols of religious extremist, terrorist organizations, using the media or telecommunications networks, which is punishable by imprisonment for 5 to 8 years with the application of Article 57, appointment of a more lenient punishment and sentenced him to three years of imprisonment.
