Three cases of alleged Nurcular participants from Dagestan have been sent to court

The investigation of three cases under Art. 282.2 of the Criminal Code.

On May 17, 2022, the investigative department of the Russian Investigative Committee for Dagestan reported that three criminal cases initiated against residents of the republic under Part 2 of Art. 282.2 of the Criminal Code (participation in the activities of an extremist organization).

According to investigators, in 2016-2017, the defendants joined the international religious association Nurcular, banned in Russia in connection with the implementation of extremist activities. They " took part in meetings to study the ideological sources of the indicated extremist organization ," the UK believes.

The initiation of three criminal cases at once on participation in Nurcular in Dagestan became known in March. Similar cases were initiated also in January and April . We also note that in 2021, one of the courts of the republic dismissed a number of cases of alleged participants in Nurcular, who were accused under Part 2 of Art. 282.2 of the Criminal Code.

We consider ban the Nurcular unlawful. Its recognition as an extremist organization in 2008 was the result of unreasonable bans on the books of moderate Turkish Islamic theologian Said Nursi for promoting the superiority of Islam over other religions. Recall that in 2018 the European Court of Human Rights ruled that by banning these books, Russian courts violated Art. 10 of the European Convention guaranteeing freedom of expression. We also believe that Russian Muslims who study Nursi's heritage do not constitute a single organization. Nevertheless, the Nurcular association is banned in Russia precisely as an extremist organization, as a result of which Muslims who read and discuss Nursi's books are prosecuted.

Sources

• Criminal cases were sent to court against three residents of the republic accused of participating in the activities of an extremist organization // Website of the Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation for the Republic of Dagestan. May 18, 2022