Prison Term Of Influential Kyrgyz Imam Extended

By RFE/RL's Kyrgyz Service

November 24, 2015

OSH, Kyrgyzstan -- A Kyrgyz court has extended the prison term for an influential religious cleric from five to 10 years.

The Osh City Prosecutor's Office said on November 24 that Imam Rashod Qori Kamolov's initial five-year sentence had been revised following an appeal by the regional prosecutor.

On October 7, a court in the Osh region found Kamolov guilty of inciting religious discord and the possession and distribution of extremist materials and sentenced him to five years in prison. 

The regional prosecutor appealed the sentence, calling it "mild."

Kamolov, a 37-year-old ethnic Uzbek, is the imam at the As-Sarakhsi Mosque in the Kara-Suu district.

Kamolov, who was arrested in February, pleaded not guilty.