"The defendants - men aged between 27 and 44 - have been engaged in propagating religious extremist ideas. All of them lived in the same neighbourhood and were members of one illegal group, which was led by Baxtiyor Shukurullayev who was linked to people involved in the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan (IMU)," the source said.

He said that "during a court investigation, it was established that the accused people had started following the criminal path about 10 years ago when they met Shukurullayev at a mosque". "Shukurullayev, having introduced himself as an Islamic expert, under the guise of enlightening these believers, held regular meetings with them and gradually involved them in an extremist movement," the source explained.

"According to an expert examination, meetings with the group members were devoted to topics such as ’Jihad and life’, ’The importance of unification’, ’For what is the hijab needed?’, ’One should fight for the truth’. At the same time, religious publications whose distribution was banned were used," the source noted.

Shukurullayev was detained in 2007.