Police in Russia have charged 4 members of a Muslim sect with cruelty against children after the group spent almost a decade living underground.

Around 70 people were banned from leaving their 8-storey bunker in Kazan around 500 miles east of Moscow.

At least 20 children were rescued some of whom had never seen daylight.

The youngest had just turned 18-months-old while a 17-year-old girl turned out to be pregnant.

Religion was suppressed in the Soviet Union which collapsed in 1991 prompting various cults and sects to flourish in the vacuum that opened up.

The group is known as the “Fayzarahmanist” sect and was named after its 83-year-old organizer Fayzrahman Satarov who declared himself a prophet and his house an independent Islamic state according to a report by State TV there.

His followers were encouraged to read his manuscripts and most were banned from leaving their underground bunker which had been dug in the basement of a building.

Prosecutors have opened a criminal investigation into the sect and have said it will be disbanded if it continues its illegal activities.

A court will decide whether the children will be allowed to stay with their parents.