| Missing Muslim rights activist turns out to be a suspect Today, as expected, the fate of a well-known fighter for Muslim rights in Kabardino-Balkaria, director of the Institute of Islamic Studies and coordinator of the Russian Islamic Heritage in the North Caucasus, businessman Ruslan Nakhushev, who disappeared in Nalchik at the end of last week, may become clearer.
On Friday afternoon he was interrogated by the FSB Department of the KBR, after which no one saw him. Mr. Nakhushev's relatives and colleagues wrote a statement about his disappearance. And yesterday the KBR special services announced that a case of “incitement to terrorism” had been opened against him. The prosecutor's office, in turn, reported that the investigation into Mr. Nakhushev's disappearance, which began on Saturday, continues. But they unofficially admitted that if Mr. Nakhushev does not appear for questioning at the FSB today, he will be put on the wanted list. And most likely not as a missing person, but as an absconder.
47-year-old former KGB major Ruslan Nakhushev has been known in the KBR for a long time. Shortly before the collapse of the USSR, he retired and went into business. During the first Chechen war, he searched for hostages. In the late 90s, Mr. Nakhushev became interested in the changes taking place among local Muslims, and organized an informal Institute of Islamic Studies in Nalchik, the leadership of which, in addition to him, included Anzor Astemirov and Mussa Mukozhev, who are now on the wanted list. According to operational data, Mukozhev is the spiritual leader of the Kabardino-Balkarian jamaat and has been underground for a long time. Astemirov was wanted on suspicion of organizing an attack on the State Drug Control Agency of the KBR in December 2004. According to detectives, on October 13, Astemirov was killed along with other militants who attacked Nalchik, although no one has officially confirmed this yet. According to colleagues, Mr. Nakhushev has recently actively defended the interests of the Kabardino-Balkaria jamaat and was planning to meet with the President of the Republic, Arsen Kanokov. On the one hand, radical Muslims seemed to trust him. On the other hand, the authorities also took him into account.
The last people to communicate with Ruslan Nakhushev were investigators from the FSB and his colleagues at the Institute of Islamic Studies. According to their testimony, on November 4 at about 19.00 he called the office and said that he had left the FSB Directorate and would arrive in ten minutes. After waiting for half an hour, his colleagues called him on his mobile phone, but no one answered. On November 4 and 5, Nakhushev’s relatives tried to find him on their own. On Saturday, November 5, Nakhushev’s sister wrote a statement about his disappearance to the prosecutor’s office and the administration of the President of the KBR. On the same day, the KBR prosecutor's office reported that they had begun checking the circumstances of the disappearance of Ruslan Nakhushev.
At first it was not clear in what capacity Mr. Nakhushev was summoned to the FSB. But yesterday the KBR prosecutor’s office reported that on October 19, a criminal case was opened against him for “incitement to terrorism” based on the publication of the article “Sent to Death,” published in Rossiyskaya Gazeta. In this article, Ruslan Nakhushev was named among the ideologists of the attack on Nalchik on October 13. The case was transferred to the FSB for investigation. The prosecutor's office yesterday denied information that Mr. Nakhushev appears in the case as a suspect, while the FSB reported that he is the main character. On November 3, Nakhushev received a summons, on the 4th he came to the FSB, where he was introduced to the decision to initiate a criminal case. After this, Ruslan Nakhushev refused to communicate with investigators without a lawyer, and then the interrogation was postponed to November 8.
“Nakhushev was not definitely charged; perhaps the investigators were going to do this in the presence of a lawyer; after all, he is a well-known and respected person in the republic,” the FSB noted. According to a source in the prosecutor’s office, if Ruslan Nakhushev, as a “decent person,” does not appear at the FSB today, and the check does not show that a crime was committed against him (kidnapping or murder), perhaps in the coming days he will be put on the wanted list. “So far we have no information that something terrible happened to him,” the prosecutor’s office noted, “but the investigation is still ongoing.” Tatiana GRITSENKO |
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