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Operatives searched Heydar Dzhemal's apartment as part of a criminal case opened based on one of the publications on an Islamic website
Akhmad Buro, Milena Pinatova
Today, investigators, as part of a criminal case opened under Article 282 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation, searched the apartment of the chairman of the Islamic Committee of Russia, the famous philosopher and publicist Heydar Dzhemal.
As it became known, at 7 am five people rang his doorbell. They introduced themselves as employees of the Russian FSB and demanded to be let in to conduct a search. But the owner did not open the door to the operatives, insisting that Maxim Shevchenko, who lives across the house, be admitted as a witness. Dzhemal called the journalist and said that “several healthy men, presumably “law enforcement officers,” were breaking in on him.
Following Shevchenko, he informed his lawyer about what was happening and only then opened the door to the security officers. Having introduced themselves and presented documents, they began to search the publicist’s apartment.
“I came up and checked the documents. People showed me the IDs of Russian FSB officers. We waited for the lawyers; quite well-known lawyers arrived. This is Mark Feigin and another very famous lawyer, he deals with extremism cases. In the presence of lawyers, we entered the premises,” Shevchenko told the Dozhd TV channel. – I asked the lawyer whether the fact that I would be a witness would prevent me from giving comments and telling stories later. The lawyer said that no, it wouldn’t hurt, so I agreed to be understood.”
According to the journalist, the question “What are you looking for?” operatives showed “a certain resolution that described some articles located on the Internet.” And in this regard, they said that they would look for some kind of extremist literature.
The operatives were told in response that in a private apartment a person can store anything, any books. Moreover, in the house of a philosopher and journalist, a public figure, whose house is littered with manuscripts... “They, I think, have never seen so much different literature on philosophy and religion in their lives. When they were asked the question “What are you looking for?”, they said that the list of extremist literature includes more than a thousand titles,” Shevchenko said. “Then the lawyer told them: “Read the list so that we know what is the subject of the search. But the investigators said that they could not read out this list, because “look for yourself on the Internet.”
According to the TV presenter, the following situation is emerging. FSB officers come to a well-known politician, journalist and philosopher, who declare that they are looking for something in his house, some articles and some books, they themselves do not know which ones, but which should be included in the list, the names of which they could not name from memory. “If they presented it, it would be several pages, it would also be such madness, the list can be viewed on the website of the Ministry of Justice. It was simply pure political pressure, nothing else,” says Maxim Shevchenko.
Heydar Jemal himself commented on the situation with the search to Caucasian Politics:
“Today at seven o’clock in the morning five investigators came. Under the pretext of searching for extremist literature, they searched my apartment. In fact, they tried to apply psychological pressure and intimidation. But thanks to the fact that lawyers were present, one of my neighbors and Maxim were witnesses Leonardovich Shevchenko, the effect they expected did not work out.
They didn’t look for literature seriously, they shook through my personal notes and my books, but in the end they didn’t take anything. They couldn’t even say what extremist books they were looking for, citing the fact that they didn’t remember their names from memory, but they were ready to identify them when they found them. In fact, this is a manifestation of the course taken today to “tighten the screws”, to “politicize” our lives.
I think this event is being held on the eve of the inauguration, as a symbolic reminder that new times are coming and what those people involved in opposition politics should expect."
- Heydar Dzhahidovich, tell me, is the search over now?
- No, the search continues in another apartment that belongs to me. The investigators went there after eleven o'clock. I don’t know what’s going on there yet; my wife and two lawyers went with them. I didn’t go because I didn’t feel well, my blood pressure rose and they called an ambulance.
- Have you been charged?
- No. No charges have been filed. This is a purely psychological act of intimidation.
- How did the FSB officers act, were there any provocations?
“It turned out that I didn’t let them in for more than an hour.” When they started knocking and asking me to open the door, I first of all called Maxim Shevchenko, the lawyers, then Ekho Moskvy. Maxim came up first and talked with them on the site until the lawyers arrived. They arrived in just over an hour. Therefore, during this time the employees lost their enthusiasm, and when they entered they were already a little tired. Therefore, there was no effect, and they were relatively polite.
There were no provocations, they were confused, apparently, it is not often in practice that they are kept on the landing until lawyers and famous journalists arrive. In such conditions it is difficult to provoke. Imagine - five employees, two lawyers, two witnesses, me with my wife and daughter. Plus, my lawyers are well-known professionals. Their every action was monitored by so many witnesses. Therefore, they no longer had the moral strength to provoke, the fuse was lost.
- There is information that the case was initiated due to a publication on islamkom.org. Can you tell what publications we are talking about?
- Firstly, this site is not registered in my name. Secondly, the publications do not belong to me, and I did not post them on this site. Therefore, this site cannot be directly linked to me. It can only be used as some kind of reason for an investigative action. But the lawyers, myself, and the investigators themselves understand that the legal component of this action is futile. Therefore, there is a calculation for intimidation. They expect that since Soviet times, fear of organs has been implanted in a person’s unconscious, and as soon as they come to him with a search, he will agree to cooperate with the investigation. They probably expected the same reaction from me, not realizing that I was well trained in this regard, that in Soviet times I had never seen anyone like them.
- What are you going to do now?
- I will make a statement, hold a press conference, the Russian Political Committee, of which I am a member, will issue a communiqué on this matter. And then we'll see what happens next.