Rights defender urges not to press children in Ingush authorities' conflict with Muftiate

The pupils of the Koran recitation school in the Ingush village of Dolakovo, where law enforcers came to conduct a check, became hostages in the conflict of the Muftiate with the republic's authorities, Magomed Mutsolgov, the head of the "Mashr" organization, has stated.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that on March 1, law enforcers surrounded the Hafiz School (where reciters of the Koran by heart are trained) in the village of Dolakovo in the Nazran District of Ingushetia. They checked all the documentation and literature in Arabic, a law enforcement source has reported.

On February 15, Yunus-Bek Evkurov, the head of Ingushetia, ordered to use CCTV cameras to monitor sermons in mosques in order to "prevent the politicization thereof." The republic's Muftiate has treated this as an attempt to prevent criticism of officials, and threatened with the Sharia Court.

Law enforcers in masks and with firearms frightened the children, Mr Mutsolgov has noted. Such an attitude to children is unacceptable, he believes.

He has urged the Russian President to punish those involved and to dismiss the head of Ingushetia Yunus-Bek Evkurov from his post.

The conflict of the authorities with the Muftiate is splitting society, and both sides are to blame for that, Magomed Mutsolgov believes.

"The Mufti splits Muslims into his supporters and opponents, while Evkurov persecutes clergymen and rights defenders," he has explained.

Adam Maloroev, a representative of the Spiritual Administration of Muslims (SAM) and the director of the Hafiz School in Dolakovo, has added that the local police are often visiting the school and know that nothing illegal is happening there.