Lirim Sylejmani, a naturalized U.S. citizen, was sentenced to 10 years in federal prison on Monday after admitting to receiving military training from ISIS in Syria.

Sylejmani, 49, originally from Kosovo, moved to Chicago approximately 25 years ago. Prosecutors stated he participated in at least one battle against U.S.-led coalition forces after entering Syria a decade ago.

U.S. District Judge Rudolph Contreras in Washington, D.C., issued the sentence, which includes a lifetime of supervised release after the prison term.

Sylejmani pleaded guilty in December to a single count of receiving military training from a designated foreign terrorist organization.

Jeanine Pirro, the interim U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia, stated, “This defendant will spend a decade in prison thinking about the betrayal to this country.”

She added, “Anyone thinking that ISIS is the answer to their questions, best think again. We will go to any lengths to root out subversive individuals who want to overthrow the government and harm its citizens.”

According to prosecutors, Sylejmani and his family traveled to Turkey in November 2015 before crossing into Syria. He received training with other ISIS recruits until Syrian forces captured him and his family in 2019.

His military training included instruction on assembling and firing AK-47 rifles, PK Machine guns, M-16 rifles, and grenades.

Sylejmani was also wounded in a battle with Syrian forces in June 2016.

Prosecutors stated that Sylejmani, who adopted the name Abu Sulayman al-Kosovi, pledged allegiance (“bayat”) to ISIS leader Abu Bakr Al-Baghdadi and the ISIS organization in the presence of an Iraqi ISIS member.

He was transferred to the U.S. in September 2020 to face charges in Washington, D.C.

Prosecutors argued, “The conduct is far more than a single, impulsive act. He chose to jeopardize the safety of his family by bringing them to a war-torn country to join and take up arms for ISIS.”

Sylejmani’s attorneys contend that he is not a “committed jihadist” and does not advocate violence.

“He is guilt-ridden for his actions and the harm he has visited on his family, who remain detained in a refugee camp in Syria living under terrible conditions,” his lawyers wrote. “He wishes only to complete his time and find his wife and children, so he can live an average law-abiding life with them.”