Idaho man serving time in Terrorism Case Indicted on Attempted Murder Charges - East Idaho News
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Idaho man serving time in Terrorism Case Indicted on Attempted Murder Charges

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The following is a news release from the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Idaho.

RIVERSIDE, California –- A man who was convicted and sentenced to a quarter century in prison for providing material support to a foreign terrorist organization has been indicted on attempted murder charges for allegedly trying to kill the warden of the federal prison where he was serving his sentence.

Fazliddin Kurbanov, 34, was named in a three-count indictment returned yesterday by a federal grand jury. The indictment that charges Kurbanov with attempted murder of a federal officer, assault on a federal officer with a deadly or dangerous weapon, and possession by an inmate of a prohibited object intended to be used as a weapon.

The indictment alleges that Kurbanov used a prison-made knife to attack Warden Calvin Johnson at the Federal Correctional Institute at Victorville on May 31, 2016. Warden Johnson, who is now serving at another facility operated by the United States Bureau of Prisons, was seriously injured in the attack, but he has recovered.

Kurbanov currently is serving a 25-year sentence imposed last year by a federal judge in Idaho after being found guilty of conspiring and attempting to provide material support to a designated foreign terrorist organization and possessing an unregistered destructive device.

In relation to the new indictment filed yesterday in Riverside, Kurbanov will be brought into United States District Court for an arraignment in the coming weeks.

If he is convicted of all three charges in the indictment, Kurbanov would face a statutory maximum sentence of 45 years in federal prison.

An indictment contains allegations that a defendant has committed a crime. Every defendant is presumed to be innocent until and unless proven guilty in court.

The investigation into the attack on the warden is being conducted by the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

This case is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Jay H. Robinson of the Terrorism and Export Crimes Section.

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