AKIPRESS.COM - A Russian court has sentenced four Tajik nationals, suspected members of the banned Hizb ut-Tahrir extremist organization, to at least eight years in prison on terrorism and extremism charges, RFE/RL reports May 2.

Court officials in the Russian city of Nizhny Novgorod said on May 2 that the defendants had acquired explosive materials to carry out a terrorist attack at the city's main shopping center.

"The defendants were found guilty of involvement in the activities of an extremist organization, plotting a terror attack, and illegal possession of explosive substances and ammunition, and were sentenced to eight to 10 years at a high-security prison," the officials said.

According to court documents, two of the defendants are brothers.

Two of the defendants worked as drivers in Nizhny Novgorod, while two others were officially unemployed, the officials said.

They were arrested in 2012. The court didn't release the defendants' names.