In Dagestan, supporters of Said Nursi received real sentences

A verdict has been passed in the case of Ziyavdin Dapaev and the Kaltuev brothers.

On November 7, 2017, the Leninsky District Court of Makhachkala delivered a verdict in the case of Ziyavdin Dapaev, Sukhrab and Artur Kaltuev, who were accused of organizing the activities of an extremist organization (part 1 of article 282.2 of the Criminal Code). All of them were found guilty, Dapaev was sentenced to four years in prison in a penal colony of general regime, the Kaltuev brothers - to three years.

The court established that Dapaev and Kaltuevs from November 15, 2011 to March 13, 2016 in Dagestan and Astrakhan carried out the work of cells of the religious association "Nurcular" - "home madrasahs" banned in Russia. During the "dars", that is, training sessions, they told the audience about the activities of the Turkish theologian Said Nursi and his works, distributed printed materials in order to involve Muslims in an extremist association, the court decided.

The defendants were detained in March 2016 during an operation against the followers of Nursi, which took place in Izberbash, Makhachkala and Khasavyurt. It was reported that Dapaev was accused of organizing the Nurdzhular cell, and the Kaltuevs of participating in it (Part 2 of Article 282.2 of the Criminal Code), however, their accusation was probably later reclassified. Dapaev had previously been convicted under Art. 282.2 of the Criminal Code: in 2011 he was sentenced to three years' imprisonment with a two-year probationary period.

We consider it illegal to ban the Nurcular association, especially since Russia did not exist at all: there are only individual believers who face unreasonable persecution for studying the books of Said Nursi.

Sources

• Persons who organized the activities of an extremist organization were sentenced to real terms of imprisonment // Website of the Prosecutor's Office of the Republic of Dagestan. 2017. October 9.
• Makhachkala residents sentenced to prison terms for organizing extremist activities // RIA "Dagestan". November 10, 2017
• Case card No. 1-162/2017 // Website of the Leninsky District Court of Makhachkala. 2017. November 7.