KAZAN: Five Muslim teenagers appeared Monday in the highest court in the central Russian region of Tatarstan, where their trial for allegedly planning to commit terrorist attacks and create an Islamic state in the traditionally Muslim territory has been under way for a week. They and 19 adult members of the alleged plot face up to 10 years in prison if found guilty, but all insist on their innocence. Their relatives and rights advocates say the case was trumped-up. "They are turning my sons from peaceful Muslims studying the Korean into extremists and militants," protested Elgiz Shaydullin, a firefighter whose two sons have been accused in the plot and have been detained for 18 months already. He came to court in his firefighter's uniform. The Federal Security Service said it had uncovered an underground extremist group, Islamic Jamaat. |