The case of a follower of the Turkish theologian Said Nursi from Naberezhnye Chelny was brought to court

In Naberezhnye Chelny, the investigation brought to court the case of a local follower of the Muslim theologian Said Nursi Nakia Sharifullina. She is accused of organizing the activities of a banned organization (Article 282.2 of the Criminal Code). This was reported by the Information and Analytical Center "Sova".

According to investigators, in 2015, Sharifullina, being a supporter of the banned international religious association Nurcular, “under the guise of conducting classes on religious topics, created a cell of a religious association in the city of Naberezhnye Chelny.”

The believer allegedly gathered citizens in a safe house to study literature and promote the idea of ​​Nurcular. In 2019, according to the investigation, she introduced people to the works of Said Nursi at least nine times under the guise of teaching the Koran and the Turkish language. Among the works of Nursi, the investigation notes the collection “Risale-i Nur”, which contains, among other things, books recognized as extremist: “Letters”, “Words”, “The Way of Positive Service”.

The case against Sharifullina was opened in March 2020. She was detained along with other local followers of Said Nursi and placed under house arrest. Later, the preventive measure was changed to a written undertaking not to leave. Against the rest of the believers, a case was opened for participation in an extremist organization (Part 2, Article 282.2 of the Criminal Code). The exact number of persons involved in this case is unknown.

• Nakia Sharifullina already has a criminal record under part 1 of Article 282.2 of the Criminal Code. In 2014, she was accused of coordinating the work of the "women's home madrasah", where the writings of Said Nursi were studied. Then she was fined 50 thousand rubles.
• The activities of Nurcular, which allegedly aims to establish a Muslim religious government based on Sharia, were recognized as extremist and banned by the Russian Supreme Court in 2008.
• The SOVA Center considers the ban on the Nurcular Association unlawful. According to human rights activists, there is no such organization in Russia, there are only individual believers. They are being unreasonably persecuted for studying the books of the theologian Nursi, they write on the center's website.