Azernews.Az

Azerbaijan’s State Security Service (SSS) has detained a suspected member of illegal armed groups operating abroad, Azernews reported on May 20 per the service.

As a result of complex operational-investigative measures carried out by the state agency against international terror, well-founded suspicions had been established about Osmanov’s involvement in armed conflicts abroad, as well as terrorist acts, which were committed on the basis of religious hatred.

According to the criminal investigation, Osmanov was trained in a secret training camp in Syria's Atma city and mastered the rules of firearms and usage of explosives.

Moreover, the suspect joined an illegal armed group, known as the Azeri Jamaat, which functioned on the basis of religious radicalism and religious hatred, and fought with members of the group in the fights for Sheikh Suleiman settlement, where he sustained shrapnel wounds.

The terrorist group provided Osmanov with a forged passport in the name of an Uzbek citizen to enable his free movement in the territory of other countries to avoid criminal liability. He traveled to several countries using the fake passport.

He had previously been detained in Turkey using a forged passport as Ilyorjon Isanov, an Uzbek citizen, on suspicion of being a member of an armed terrorist group operating in the country, but was released due to the lack of proof of his guilt.

Osmanov was apprehended as a suspect and prosecuted under Articles 12.1 and 279.1 (creation of armed formations or groups not provided by the legislation of the Republic of Azerbaijan, as well as participation in their creation and activity, supplying them with weapons, ammunition, explosives, military equipment) of the Azerbaijani Criminal Code.

A criminal case has been launched.

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