Said Gereikhanov: mosque closed in Dagestan under pressure of ROVD boss

Parishioners cannot pray in the mosque of the village of Sovietskoe, Magaramkent District, because it was closed at the insistence of Shakir Omarov, head of the ROVD (District Interior Division). This was reported by the mosque imam Said Gereikhanov.

"Under his pressure, the villagers had allegedly held a meeting to discuss the future of the mosque. The ROVD boss brought exclusively his supporters to the meeting. When I wanted to enter the building where the meeting took place, I was stopped by armed policemen, who stood at the gangway," said Gereikhanov.

He also spoke about the course of the meeting. "It was attended by the former imam Suleiman Pashaev, director of the local school Sidikullah Akhmedov, his deputy for upbringing Rustam Karibov and other persons. Pashaev spreads rumours that we are Wahhabis, while the school principal bans his schoolgirls to appear in school with covered hair and in long skirts. He toured classes, along with two policemen, and threatened that if schoolgirls appeared next time "in the same clothes, they would be undressed naked before the whole school." Karibov named his pupils who on May 13 were severely beaten by policemen as dogs. And these people, as expected, decided to close the mosque," said the imam.

He noted that the meeting also discussed the recent incident of beating the parishioners.

"The speakers said that there was no beating. The victims of the policemen's arbitrariness and their parents were also banned to get to the meeting. When history teacher Sefer Manafov tried to speak in defence of the beaten schoolchildren, Akim Penzhaliev, a judo trainer, attacked him violently, shouting that he would 'stamp him down'. The teacher was also threatened by policemen and their boss," said Gereikhanov. He also said that he would seek justice through legal action.

The on duty unit of the Magaramkent ROVD has stated - in a rude manner, in the person of some unnamed assistant of the operative on duty officer - that they knew nothing about the closure of the mosques and the course of the meeting.