Vienna, May 27 – The murder of Daghestani Mufti Akhmed Tagayev on Monday has attracted attention to a dangerous trend in Russian society – a rise in the number of attacks on religious leaders and property – and sparked the kind of anger in some quarters that could lead to witch hunts against groups some religious and political leaders do not like. Officials at the Muslim Spiritual Directorate (MSD) told “Rossiiskaya gazeta” that “they were inclined to connect” Tagayev’s murder with his “professional activity,” noting that he was “one of the main ideologues” who opposed Wahhabism, thus implicitly implicating the latter in his death (www.rg.ru/2009/05/27/pulya.html). And Vladimir Bogdanov and Timur Aliyev, two journalists for the Moscow newspaper, suggest in an article published today, that religious “extremists” and “sects” of various kinds are behind the killings ...
May 25th 2009 · Prague Watchdog / Sergei Gligashvili · ALSO AVAILABLE IN:
The choice of unfreedom
By Sergei Gligashvili, special to Prague Watchdog
A well-known Russian anthropologist recently confessed to me in dismay that he was unable to say anything sensible about the current state of affairs in Chechnya. Indeed, reality is slipping away from the usual interpretations, though many people who keep a close eye on developments in Chechnya still stick, through inertia, to the standard schemes and conceptions. Nevertheless, even the most adamant liberal supporters of Chechen independence do not venture to claim that today's Chechen insurgency is the same symbol of liberation and anti-colonial struggle that adorned the democratic banners of the mid-1990's.
We must at last acknowledge, honestly and impartially, that what has happened in history before has happened now – a national revolution has turned into dark political reaction. Chechen reality today embraces two totalitarian projects, each of which in its ...
Economic tensions reached a zenith on Wednesday in Pikalevo, a small Russian town not far from St. Petersburg. Local residents, suffering after the town’s major employers shut their doors this past winter, stormed the town hall building with demands that the mayor’s office resolve the crisis problems plaguing the city. As the BFM.ru online newspaper and the TV100 channel report, nearly 200 demonstrators had gathered outside the town hall, protesting a city-wide shut-off of heat and hot water, as well as overdue back-pay. City officials, meanwhile, were holding a meeting inside in an effort to resolve some of the problems.
The protestors, who were anxiously awaiting the result of the meeting, eventually rushed the building, pushing past militsiya officers and barging through the session’s closed doors. After speaking out concerns about unemployment and withheld wages, the group peacefully left the building and continued to wait ...
Olga Kurnosova, the leader of the St. Petersburg branch of Garry Kasparov’s United Civil Front party, has been charged for a second time on allegations of smuggling.
As Kurnosova told the Kasparov.ru online newspaper, the charges stem from an incident on October 5, 2008, when the opposition activist was returning by train from Astrakhan to St. Petersburg. Kurnosova, who was on her way home from a regional conference for the political opposition, was apprehended and searched on the train. Police found a can of black caviar in her bags, and decided on the spot that the caviar had been poached illegally, and was therefore contraband. Kurnosova had received the can as a gift from members of the United Civil Front in Astrakhan. The activist was then held in a temporary detention facility for nearly two days, before being released on a promise not ...
Acknowledgement: All available information and documents in "Justice For North Caucasus Group" is provided for the "fair use". There should be no intention for ill-usage of any sort of any published item for commercial purposes and in any way or form. JFNC is a nonprofit group and has no intentions for the distribution of information for commercial or advantageous gain. At the same time consideration is ascertained that all different visions, beliefs, presentations and opinions will be presented to visitors and readers of all message boards of this site. Providing, furnishing, posting and publishing the information of all sources is considered a right to freedom of opinion, speech, expression, and information while at the same time does not necessarily reflect, represent, constitute, or comprise the stand or the opinion of this group. If you have any concerns contact us directly at:
eagle@JusticeForNorthCaucasus.com