A court in Chechnya interrogated three imams as victims in the Zhuravel case

The Visaitovsky District Court of Grozny questioned three more mosque imams as victims in the case of Nikita Zhuravel, accused of insulting the feelings of believers by burning the Koran in front of a mosque. The imams claim that by his actions Mr. Zhuravel caused them moral harm.

In total, 13 imams were declared victims in the case, all of them were interrogated. The next court hearing is scheduled for January 9, 2024. Witnesses are expected to be questioned that day, TASS reports.

In May, Nikita Zhuravel held a rally with the burning of the Koran near a mosque in Volgograd. According to investigators, during interrogation he admitted that he did this on the instructions of the Ukrainian special services. The Investigative Committee opened a case under Part 2 of Art. 148 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation (insulting the feelings of believers). In November, the first meeting was held at which the imam of the Volgograd Cathedral Mosque Ilyas Bektemirov and journalist Ivan Bogdanov were interrogated.

Chairman of the Investigative Committee Alexander Bastrykin transferred the criminal case to the Investigation Department of the Investigative Committee for Chechnya. In September, in the pre-trial detention center of Mr. Zhuravel beat up 15-year-old son of the head of Chechnya Adam Kadyrov. His father said he was proud of his son’s action, and later statedthat “it would be good if Adam killed” Nikita Zhuravel.

Read about the case in the Kommersant publication “The Koran arsonist is expected in a Chechen court”.