Occupiers in Crimea accuse Imam Bekirov of illegal missionary activity

In the occupied Crimea, the staff of the "Prosecutor's office" and the Center for Combating Extremism came to the mosque of Zarechnoye village of Simferopol district during prayer and tried to take an explanation from Asan Bekirov, who preached a sermon, suspecting him of illegal missionary activity.

The lawyer Rustem Kamilev told it to "Crimean solidarity", reports UKRINFORM.

"After an administrative case was opened against the Imam of the local Muslim community, Arsen Kantemirov, the Muslim community was forced to invite Asan Bekirov to this role, but we see that the state, represented by law enforcement agencies, does not abandon attempts to "impose the limits" to achieve that Islamic rituals in Crimea were carried out according to the instructions of the authorities, " the lawyer said.

According to him, the staff of the so-called Prosecutor's office and the FSB are wrongfully trying to blame, because every Muslim who knows how to conduct rites of worship has the right to do so."

"I would like to say that the article of the code on administrative violations, which law enforcement agencies are referring to (illegal missionary activity), does not apply in this case, and I would not look for the offence here, because all those Muslim rites of worship that are held in the mosque do not fall under the norms of this article," Kamilev said.

As the lawyer noted, " the people who perform the rites of worship according to the laws of Islam are Muslims, and the law clearly states that illegal missionary activity is when a person begins to call people from other faiths to his religion, so this article is inappropriate and cannot be applied here."

We will remind, on July 5, 2019, in a mosque in the village of Zarechnoye employees of the so-called center for combating extremism and riot police carried out “investigative measures”.

"The justice of the peace court" of Simferopol instituted the administrative proceedings against Kantemirov, the Imam of the mosque “Salgir Baba” (p. Zarechnaya Simferopol district) under Article 5.26, h. 4 of the Administrative Code (“Implementation of missionary activity in violation of legislation on freedom of conscience, freedom of religion and religious associations”). However, on August 28, 2019, justice Chumachenko issued a decision to return the materials of this case to the official who drew up the protocol. Thereafter, the materials were repeatedly transferred to the "justice of the peace court" to initiate administrative proceedings.