Four young Chechens were sentenced to seven years in prison for setting fire to the mausoleum of a famous theologian

Four young residents of the Chechen Republic were sentenced to terms of seven to seven and a half years in prison after a loud scandal over the burning of a ziyart (mausoleum) at the grave of the famous 19th century theologian Yangulbi-Khadzhi Dokhtukaev, the Caucasian was told by the Investigative Committee. Knot

The court recognized that on November 16 last year, young people Shamil Ergiev, Dzhabrail Usumov, Islam Yunusov and Khamzat Uspaev from the village of Mayrtup set fire to a ziyart in the nearby village of Kurchaloy. The investigation proved that at night they entered the cemetery, opened the room above the burial place of Yangulbi-haji, damaged the grave mound, doused the structure with gasoline and set the carpet on fire. As a result of the fire, the interior of the ziart was seriously damaged.

The verdict was pronounced on August 21 in the city of Shali. The young people were found guilty of committing crimes under paragraph “a” of part 2 of article 244 of the Criminal Code (group destruction, damage or desecration of burial sites, gravestones or cemetery buildings), part 1 of article 243 (destruction or damage of cultural heritage objects) and part 1 of article 222 (illegal acquisition, transfer, sale, storage, transportation or carrying of firearms, their main parts and ammunition). Yunusov and Uspaev received seven years in prison, Ergiev and Usumov received seven and a half years in a general regime colony.

The incident provoked a sharp reaction from the Chechen authorities: the suspects were detained the very next day, then, on the instructions of the head of Chechnya, Ramzan Kadyrov, they were taken through the regions of the republic for public reprimand at mosques, and a banner appeared on the website of the Grozny ChGTRK with the inscription: “These people are cursed and The Almighty, and the Chechen people."

their actions The detainees explained with the support of an online preacher from Dagestan, who declared ziyarts on the graves of saints and their visits as “shirk” - a manifestation of polytheism.