00:49, 1 September 2016

Human rights defenders associate attempt on Isa Tsechoev with threats from Chechnya

A terror act prevented in the village of Ali-Yurt was directed against Imam Isa Tsechoev and connected with the threats in his address earlier voiced by the authorities of Chechnya. This was stated by human rights defenders interviewed by the "Caucasian Knot".

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that on August 30, near the mosque in the village of Ali-Yurt, law enforcers cordoned off the area around a vehicle in which the explosives were found. In the afternoon of August 30, the law enforcers took away and destroyed the explosive device.

The car with an explosive device belongs to a resident of Chechnya. The driver was recorded by surveillance cameras, but not identified yet, report sources from the law enforcement bodies.

According to Oleg Orlov, a manager of the programme "Hot Spots" of the Human Rights Centre (HRC) "Memorial", "a clear attempt to destabilize the situation" is observed in Ingushetia. Meanwhile, the human rights defender has also reminded of the attempt on Imam Khamzat Chumakov committed in this March.

"The explosion in Nasyr-Kort occurred after the outbreak of the conflict, which was openly inflated from the Chechen Republic. The current situation is a continuation of the attempts of destabilization," Oleg Orlov told the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent.

On February 2, at a gathering of followers of Sufi concept of Islam in Grozny, Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov declared that he prohibited a dialogue with Salafis. Meanwhile, he criticized Khamzat Chumakov and Isa Tsechoev, religious leaders of Ingushetia, by saying that if they tried to read a sermon in Chechnya, "they would lose their heads." The Ingush theologians claimed the absurdity of the accusations voiced by Ramzan Kadyrov.

According to Ruslan Mutsolgov, the leader of the Ingush regional branch of the "Yabloko" Party, in the case of the incidents in Ali-Yurt, there is "a correlation with the threats voiced by the Chechen leaders." Ruslan Mutsolgov believes that "the prevented terror act was not an action of intimidation, but it carried a real threat to members of the Ali-Yurt mosque community."

"The explosion was prevented by chance. A mosque-goer saw how a driver unnaturally quickly left his car and entered another car with a package in his hands. Thus, the terror act was prevented due to operative actions of believers and policemen, who adequately assessed the situation," believes Ruslan Mutsolgov.

Full text of the article is available on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’.

Source: CK correspondent