MOSCOW, December 11 (RAPSI) – Russia’s Supreme Court has upheld the verdicts for members of Islamic terrorist organization Hizb ut-Tahrir, who received long prison sentences for an attempt to seize power in Russia, RAPSI reported on Thursday, citing the court’s press service.

A court representative said the board had removed the charge of incitement of ethnic hatred or enmity, but upheld the sentences. The verdict has come into effect.

In late July, the Moscow City Court sentenced four people to long prison terms that vary between seven and 11 years and fined them 500,000 rubles (over $9,000).

Azizbek Inamov was given the longest sentence, 11 years. Shamil Ismailov and Saikula Kurbanov received eight years each. The shortest sentence was handed down to Zikrullokhon Rakhmonkhjodzhayev: seven years in prison plus 50,000 rubles (about $900).

According to investigators, the defendants intended to seize power and change the government in Russia. They also established the organization’s cells and supplied weapons to their accomplices according to case materials.

In early August, the lawyer for one of the convicts appealed against the verdict.

The Federal Security Service (FSB) exposed the group in the fall of 2012. They arrested 18 Russian and Tajik citizens, confiscated $1 million and 2 million euros worth of counterfeit money, plus weapons and extremist literature.

Hizb ut-Tahrir al-Islami (Islamic Party of Liberation) has been declared a terrorist organization in many countries. Russia’s Supreme Court prohibited it in 2003. The organization’s goal is to remove non-Muslim governments and to establish Islamic rule on a global scale by creating a “worldwide caliphate.”

Many members of Hizb ut-Tahrir al-Islami have been arrested in Russia, mainly in large cities in central Russia, the Volga region and Siberia. The organization allegedly has many supporters in Crimea, which reunited with Russia last spring.