Stavropol Muslims were not allowed to complete the mosque

On December 19, the Pyatigorsk court will begin considering the claim of the local mayor's office regarding the construction of a cathedral mosque in the city. The city administration demands that it be stopped. The governor of the Stavropol Territory, Valery Zerenkov, had to intervene in the situation.

The mosque was built on the territory of a private house, Tamara Shaldirvan, head of the information and analytical work department of the Pyatigorsk administration, told PublicPost: “In fact, the mosque was built without permits. It was built in the courtyard of a private house. Many people complained that when parishioners of the mosque under construction gathered in it, it was impossible to drive in this area."

While the pre-trial investigation is ongoing, the doors of the mosque are sealed and, most likely, it will not be completed.

After the hype around the mosque, the governor of the region, Zerenkov, proposed the best option - to build a mosque in another place. Zerenkov called for listening to the opinion of the public at a meeting of the regional council on interethnic issues and added that the illegal construction of a religious building is a step in the opposite direction.

Mufti of the Stavropol region Muhammad Rakhimov does not comment on the situation around the mosque, an employee of the region’s spiritual administration told PublicPost. But a source, speaking on condition of anonymity, said that the Muslims of the city are outraged by the transfer of the construction site of the mosque: “This mosque was built for two years using donations from people. Why Muslims cannot gather in it and perform prayers is not clear to me personally. In the Stavropol Territory, 20 percent of believers are Muslims. Not taking into account their interests is a mockery. The governor of the region proposed to build a mosque outside the city. But for many it is difficult to get there. And the unfinished mosque is unlikely to be demolished; the muftiate of the region will now be located here.”