A federal court jury on Monday found a Uzbekistan refugee guilty on two terror-related counts including providing aid to the Islamic Jihad Union.
Bakhtiyor Jumaev will be sentenced on July 18 in Denver U.S. District Court.
Jurors believed the version of events by the U.S. Attorney’s Office. Prosecutors alleged Jumaev used code words to arrange and then pay a $300 contribution to the Islamic Jihad Union. But Jumaev’s attorney David Barry Savitz argued Jumaev was just repaying a debt to a friend.
Jumaev’s jury trial began on March 22. The case went to the jury late Wednesday afternoon. Prosecutors allege Jumaev provided material support to and conspired to join the Islamic Jihad Union.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Gregory Holloway had told jurors that Jumaev sent at least $300 to co-defendant Jamshid Muhtorov in the spring of 2011 for the group, he said. Holloway said that during an interview with FBI agents on March 15, 2012, Jumaev admitted he sent the money to Muhtorov to support the IJU.
Savitz had claimed that the FBI illegally extracted a false confession from Jumaev by arresting him after he worked a graveyard shift and interrogating him for three hours while he was scared, exhausted and felt trapped.
Over the course of the trial, interpreters of five languages including Arabic, Tajiki and Russian assisted Jumaev.
