Nikita Zhuravel, accused of burning the Koran, partially admitted guilt

19-year-old Nikita Zhuravel, accused of burning the Koran near a mosque in Volgograd, partially admitted guilt. He stated that he burned the Koran and was therefore guilty under the article on insulting the feelings of believers (Part 2 of Article 148 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation). However, according to him, he had no intention of grossly disrupting public order.

The young man is accused of insulting the feelings of believers committed in places intended for worship and religious ceremonies, as well as hooliganism motivated by religious hatred by a group of persons by prior conspiracy.

“I plead guilty to committing a crime under Part 2 of Art. 148 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation, namely in the very burning of the holy book – the Koran. But I had no motive for a gross violation of public order, since I did not know the purpose of this video,” said Nikita Zhuravel (quoted by TASS).

At the request of the prosecution, he will spend another six months in custody. The next court hearing is scheduled for October 24.

Nikita Zhuravel arrested in May. The reason was a video in which he, being in the bushes 20 meters from the mosque, burns the Koran. There were no people on the street during filming. In the video of the interrogation, Nikita Zhuravel said that unknown authors of the Ukrainian Telegram channel asked him to burn the Koran.

The case was transferred for investigation to the Investigation Department for Chechnya. Later he was taken from Volgograd to the Grozny pre-trial detention center. Later the head of Chechnya Ramzan Kadyrov published video of his 15-year-old son Adam beating Nikita Zhuravel in a Grozny pre-trial detention center. Later, Adam Kadyrov was awarded the title of Hero of Chechnya.

The trial of the accused was supposed to begin on October 9, but for unknown reasons the young man was not taken to the courtroom. October 12 Ramzan Kadyrov published another video of him talking to Nikita Zhuravel. The young man said that he was ready to convert to Islam, but the head of Chechnya called him a “provocateur” in response and considered that there was “no sincerity” in his words.

Anastasia Larina