Six Muslims from the Saratov region convicted of involvement in Tablighi Jamaat

All of them received real terms of imprisonment.

On September 2, 2020, it became known that the Volzhsky District Court of Saratov issued a sentence under Art. 282.2 of the Criminal Code (organization of activities of an extremist organization and participation in such) in the case of a group of six farmers accused of involvement in the banned Islamic religious movement Tablighi Jamaat. From the case file on the court's website it follows that the verdict was delivered on August 13.

In 2019, law enforcement agencies reported that the defendants "exchanged extremist literature, flew to Jordan, Qatar and Kuwait, where they were trained in religious centers." According to investigators, they tried to create a local cell of the Tablighi Jamaat movement, which is recognized as extremist in Russia, and organized a "bayan" (meeting for the purpose of preaching).

Aidyngali Mindagaliev was recognized as the "leader of the cell" and convicted under Part 1 of Art. 282.2 of the Criminal Code, he received three years in a penal colony with restriction of freedom for a year. The remaining five were recognized as members of the cell and sentenced under Part 2 of Art. 282.2 of the Criminal Code. Four - Radik Galimdzhanov, Bakhtiar Baikulov, Aslan Makhmaliyev and Mukhambetzhan Akhmetov - to one year four months in a general regime colony with restriction of freedom for a year, and the fifth, Rustam Baikulov - to a year in a general regime colony with restriction of freedom for a year. The term of imprisonment assigned to all five convicts under Part 2 of Art. 282.2 of the Criminal Code, the court considered served, taking into account the time they spent under arrest.

Recall that a criminal case against Muslims was initiated in January 2019, all six were sent under arrest, and in December 2019 they were released on bail.

The religious movement "Tablighi Jamaat" was banned in Russia in 2009, in our opinion, without proper reason. This association was engaged in the propaganda of fundamentalist Islam, but was not seen in any calls for violence, and therefore the persecution of its supporters, from our point of view, is unjustified.

Sources

• Six members of Tablighi Jamaat convicted in Saratov region // Interfax. 2020. September 2.
• Case card No. 1-134/2020 // Website of the Volzhsky District Court of Saratov. 2020. September 3rd.